"Vin! Get down," Ezra screamed."
Reacting quickly, Vin dove for cover drawing his weapon and laying down cover fire as Ezra got to cover. By this time, the Losherev and his men had had time to react and were firing toward the two agents.
Vin conventrated his fire on Losherev and his men since Ezra and Radenov seemed to be concentrating their fire solely on each other.
Vin spotted one of the Russians sneaking up on Ezra. He rolled out from behind the crate he was using as cover to take him out before rolling back. A sharp pain in his left arm told him that he had not moved quickly enough.
Though it seemed like an hours had gone by, the fight lasted only a few minutes. The sounds of sirens told him and the gun dealers that reinforcements had arrived.
Chris's voice floated out over the sound of gunfire, "Give up now! This is the ATF, we have you surrounded!"
"It's about time Cowboy," Vin muttered as he used his last clip to reload and began firing again. Two more men went down under his fire. Losherev and his remaining bodyguard were pinned down behind the truck.
As Vin watched Losherev and his bodyguard
threw down their weapons and surrendered. There was no way they
could fight their way out of here and they knew it.
Radenov turned his attention away from Ezra at the sound of their
guns hitting the floor. He shouted something at Losherev in Russian
before he turned and killed them both.
Radenov turned and looked at Ezra and smiled. Vin heard him say something to Ezra in Russian as he reached into his pocket.
Ezra fired two more shots and ran towards Vin, yelling, "Get out of here, Vin,"
Before Vin could figure out what was going on, Ezra grabbed him by the arm and pulled him towards the exit.
The last thing he saw before he turned and ran was Radenov pulling out a cigarette lighter and throwing it towards the truck Losherev had used as cover.
Vin and Ezra were almost to the exit when lighter landed and ignited the gas from the truck's punctured gas tank.
The explosion knocked both them both to the ground as debris rained down on them.
Pain was the first thing Ezra noticed as he swam toward consciousness. The second thing he noticed was that he was in the hospital, again. What happened, he wondered, searching his memory. The events of the morning played out in his head. A big, nasty piece of his past had reared its ugly head and almost gotten him and Vin killed. At that thought, Ezra's eyes shot open and he struggled to rise.
"Easy, Ezra, calm down," Josiah said, as Nathan called for the doctor.
"What happened?" Ezra asked, pretending not to remember.
"You don't remember?" Agent Blackridge asked, stepping forward.
Ezra just shook his head looking confused as the doctor entered the room.
"It's probably a side effect of the concussion," Doctor Jenson, explained. "How are you feeling, Agent Standish?"
"Mah head hurts," Ezra drawled, his southern accent thicker due to the pain in his head. "Now will someone tell me what happened?"
"The bust went down wrong. Radenov started shooting at you and Agent Tanner," Blackwell said. "There was an explosion and Radenov got away. Is any of this sounding familiar?"
"No," Ezra said shaking his head. "Is Mr. Tanner alright?"
"He's fine," Chris said, entering the room "Buck and JD are taking him home. He just needed some stitches in his arm." Chris walked over to Ezra's bed.
"When do you think he'll start remembering?" he asked the doctor, having overheard the last part of the conversation.
Chris had been waiting for Ezra to wake up. He already heard both of Vin's reports on what had happened in the warehouse. The official story that Vin gave the FBI and the unofficial report he gave Chris. Vin had a feeling that Radenov and Ezra had known each other. His description of the way the two had concentrated on each other during the gun battle made Chris think he was right.
"There's no way to predict that," the doctor answered. "Head wounds can be tricky."
"When can I leave?" Ezra interrupted. He was relieved that Vin was fine, but now he needed to get out of here as soon as possible. He had to find out what was going on.
"I want to keep you here tonight for observation and a few more tests, Agent Standish. If everything checks out okay we'll let you go in the morning. In the mean time gentlemen he needs to rest," Doctor Jenson said as he pointed toward the door. "Visiting hours are over."
"I want your report on everything you remember tomorrow, Standish." Blackridge said, walking out of the room.
Chris and the others left soon after with promises to come and pick him up tomorrow morning.
Ezra waited long enough to make sure they were all gone before he slowly got up, got dressed and retrieved his belongings. He was able to sneak out without the nursing staff noticing his escape. Thankfully his cell phone was still charged. He needed to get somewhere private to make a phone call as soon as possible. With a determined step, he headed toward the hospital exit.
It was probably due to his concussion that he did not notice the figure in the shadows following him out of the building.
Ezra's shadow followed him across the street to the nearby park. He watched and listened as the southerner pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number from memory.
The shadow moved closer listening to the one sided conversation.
"It's Ezra. I've got a problem. Anatoly Putchin is Denver."
" Yes, I'm positive it's him."
" Unfortunately. We tried our best to kill each other this morning during a bust."
"No, I'm staying here. I will not abandon my team to the likes of Anatoly Putchin."
"Listen, I need you to send me everything you have on Putchin and I need you to get rid of the FBI agents Blackridge and Stone. They were assigned to the case and I don't want them digging around."
"Yes, I am planning to tell them. They will need to know if we are going to take out Putchin."
"I wait until you get here if I can; but I am not making any promises. I have to go," Ezra said before snapping the cell phone closed ending his call.
"You lied to me," a voice said from behind him.
Ezra closed his eyes and took a deep breath before turning around. "I didn't lie to you, Mr. Larabee, I lied to the FBI," Ezra explained.
"Don't give me that Ezra. You sat there in that hospital and pretended that you didn't remember a thing," Chris said, pushing Ezra against a nearby tree.
Ezra suppressed a wince at the pain caused by the impact. "I had every intention of letting you know what was going on as soon as I could. Please trust me Chris, there is more going on here then you know."
"Explain it to me, Ezra. Who did you call?" Chris asked. He wasn't going to let this drop. He knew something was wrong when Ezra hadn't protested staying the night at the hospital. He wanted answers and he wanted them now.
Ezra knew he had no choice. "His name is Clayton Webb. He's a cousin of mine on my father's side of the family. He is one of the few members of the family that I have any regular contact with, besides mother, of course. He is also my ex-partner."
Chris was tired, angry, and confused. "I've read your file, Ezra," Chris snapped. "You never had a partner named Webb at the FBI."
Ezra looked Chris in the eye, "You are correct as usual Mr. Larabee. Clayton Webb doesn't work for the FBI; he works for the CIA."
TBC