Chapter 443: Hell Is Empty, And All The Devils Are Here

[FROLO]

When the message from Zhenya was confirmed, Sergei activated the Psych Ward operatives of the week. Each week, different operatives were sent out to run lives somewhere.

The orders mostly came from Rastenkin because Sergei was too occupied.

Too busy plotting his next kill.

So far, he had managed to kill thirteen people from the government side with his own hands.

People who held very high positions.

People who most of Frolo didn’t even know existed until their names hit the headlines.

People who kept their nation running without being in the spotlight, and each announcement that came had the same creepy symbol.

The S.

It was on everybody who had been found.

Sometimes on the forehead.

Other times on the arms or whatever body part Sergei deemed visible enough to send a message. And he knew that the government officials were slowly getting scared.

He had even noticed the spike in calls to his team in the Psych Ward begging to get a chance to speak with Sergei. Hoping they were on the barbarian’s kill list. But no one really knew who Sergei was going to kill next.

Until today, when Sergei activated the operatives of the week... himself.

His order had been simple.

Find the first lady’s lovers. The fathers of her children, and take them to The Farm.

The Farm, unlike the Psych Ward, was a real horror for the civilians Sergei had to use as leverage for whatever the hell he wanted.

The civilians sometimes didn’t get the chance to go home and would eventually be used as human targets in the psych ward test operations. It really didn’t smell like Sergei.

If anyone was useful, they could bargain, but if a week passed without any information from the families, the civilians would be targets.

So to find the first lady of the country’s lovers wasn’t just a normal feat. It was a statement.

Worse, the order also included a list for President Boris. Sure, Sergei knew Zhenya and the president were sleeping together, but he knew men like Boris.

The president was a Beta and would probably try to be a bad partner just for the punishment that he loved.

That was something that Sergei had demanded be looked into.

And whatever they found, they would take with them to The Farm.

Now at the old mill with the alphas using their pheromones to block the bullets charging at them, Sergei followed the tracker’s signal.

They were getting closer.

They hadn’t assumed it would be easy, and even though they heard the landmine explode and saw Reeves and Meera rush toward them, they didn’t change direction.

There were far more important things to worry about than the obvious fact that they probably had their cover blown.

But cover or not, Sergei would not rest until he got his Katya.

He wouldn’t.

And like a unit, they worked their way around the old mill, with their shields still up.

"There is life under here," Sergei pointed out, making them stop for a moment.

"What do you mean, life?" Rastenkin asked, like he was trying to think of anything reasonable. But with the way the sniper shots increased with every step they made to this point, there had to be another reason.

"The coordinates say we are right at the spot. But there’s no entrance here," Rastenkin added, making Meera stare with a smile.

"I could grab one of the soldiers to give us the entry point," Meera said, and everyone stared at her like she had lost her mind.

"Or we could use the scanners and see where there have been movements for a while," Volkov said, pulling a sensor from his toolbox.

"You had that this whole time?!" Rahim screeched, and Volkov shrugged.

"There were landmines, and we were trying to keep a low profile," Volkov said before he began scanning. It didn’t take that long to figure out where the nearest entry point was.

It was a rusted septic hole cover that looked insanely unhygienic, but also the fact that they were outside the old mill made it even more diabolical.

Anyone would think that if there was to be a hidden tiny point, then it would be right inside the mill.

Not behind the mill.

"Boss, the tracker is moving," Elara said, and that was all it took for Sergei to shoot at the lock that was standing between him and his Solnyshka.

When the lock didn’t give way, he grabbed explosives from the pack they were with and stepped back with his team before aiming them at that spot.

The first didn’t go through, but the second and third had the bunker entrance giving way. It could have ended in disaster, seeing as they used three, but what the heck, right?

"Rahim and I will cover you," Volkov said.

"Be careful," Sergei said before leading the way into the bunker. There was a long ladder that seemed eternal. But then, when they got to the end of it all, Sergei couldn’t believe what he saw.

Life.

Under a bunker.

What the fuck was wrong with everyone?

"So this is why they were willing to let the rest of the citizens die? Because they have a contingency plan?" Reeves sighed, the shock on his face something that was mirrored on the faces of everyone.

This was an entire municipality on its own, and it was unsettling.

"The tracker, sir," Elara reminded, and the Myrtles and Sergei got busy.

They didn’t care that everyone here seemed to know them, and especially Sergei.

They didn’t mind the fact that people were literally getting out of the way, including their damn police in whatever hellhole this was.

It didn’t matter that people were already screaming to safety.

The thought made Sergei chuckle because where the fuck was safety with the devil of Frolo inside a damn military bunker? What the hell had they been given for them to get to this point with each other?

Soon the alarm bells blared across the bunker, reminding Sergei and his team that their time was limited.

But Sergei had better things at hand this time.

Katya was somewhere under here, and Sergei was here too. Which meant that their mate bond was going to work if they reached out to each other. If Sergei reached out.

And Sergei, being Katya’s Vladimir, began the sequence of things he knew would have his Katya stiffening one too many times. The one thing that could reassure an omega whose alpha was seeking him out.

Their first shared knot.

And boy was Sergei gracious with the memories he pushed through the bond.

So much so that Elara’s voice was the one thing that had Sergei returning to the world of the living.

"Sir... the tracker is moving... this way?" Elara asked, confused.

"It went left again... right... Left... for fuck’s sake, what the hell is with this shit?" Elara asked, confused, and frustrated.

"Check the patterns," Meera sighed.

"Oh, right. The movement patterns," Elara said before she used some software to map the tracker movement since they had gotten here.

"R016," Elara breathed, and they began looking.

While Sergei...

He sought his mate through the bond.

It was a long shot.

A really long one because he had never tried to use the mind link for anything other than memories that he occasionally pushed.

’Please... tell me where you are, Solnyshka,’ Sergei tried, knowing there was a real chance it wouldn’t work.

’Alpha... it’s really you... They’re taking me through an exit on aisle R016,’ Katya responded in the link, and Sergei had never felt that much relief.