“Two pieces of bad news?” Natasha frowned as she continued to stare straight at Skanov. Then, her lips suddenly curved up. “Does it matter?”
Skanov smiled and sighed in relief.
“The idea of your investigation is correct. Your mother’s death is indeed related to your father. It was the Special Forces under the 58th Army. The order was issued by the Russian Security Service.”
Natasha took in a deep breath of cold air. Her fingers trembled as she tried to control the sorrow that was about to overwhelm her. She was desperately trying to sound strong.
“And the other piece of bad news is?”
“The other bad news is related to your mother’s death. Are you sure you want to hear about it?” Skanov smiled. “Old guy Nikolaev will not want you to know.”
“Say it,” Natasha said it expressionlessly.
“Your mother was a double agent. She joined the Freemasonry when she was twelve years old. In 2008, she sent us intelligence in Georgia but accidentally revealed herself. And I, I am her master.” With a dubious smile, he looked at Natasha who took a step back, “I advise you to take your hand out of your pocket. At least two sniper rifles are being pointed at you.”
The smile on Natasha’s face gradually disappeared.
From when she walked into the town, she realized that something was wrong, but did not expect the one who betrayed her, who betrayed Russia, would turn out to be her father’s old friend, Major Skanov.
“This joke is not funny at all.” Using the corner of her eyes to observe the surrounding environment, Natasha determined by experience that the location of the sniper should be in the clock tower 400 meters away and on the roof of the factory 500 meters away.
She didn’t take her hand from her pocket but let go of the pistol and held onto the smoke bomb.
Skanov shrugged.
“This is not a joke… You don’t have to waste time. Even if the Alpha Group came, they wouldn’t be able to save you, and they won’t take the risk to save you. The 14th Motorized Brigade of Ukraine is stationed not far from here.”
After Skanov finished, he clapped his hands.
Like ghosts, twelve figures appeared from the shadows. They were covered in lacquered black combat uniforms, armed from head to toe, and moved without a sound. Without a doubt, they were the elites of the elites.
When Natasha saw these special force agents, a trace of despair appeared in her eyes. If there were only snipers, she could work up the courage to make a gambit, but against twelve heavily armed special force agents, even if she was 007, her possibility of surviving was null.
“Shameless traitor.” Squeezing a few words out of her teeth, Natasha stared at Skanov.
If eyes could kill, Skanov would have died many times.
However, against Natasha’s allegations, Skanov didn’t seem to agree.
“A traitor?” Skanov shrugged, and raised his hands and rubbed his neck a few times.
When she saw this, Natasha’s pupils shrunk. She noticed that as he rubbed, there was a noticeable chromatic aberration, and then his hands seemed to have grabbed onto something. He tore and ripped off the silicone hood from his head.
“Skanov” who had removed the silicon hood became a completely strange face.
In other words, he revealed his true appearance.
“Let me introduce myself again. I am Peter Petrov.” Since it was no longer necessary to disguise himself, he revealed his real voice.
The stiff expression on Natasha’s face gradually softened into a bitter smile.
Disguise. She was naturally familiar with this as she is a member of the Security Services. However, she never expected to fall for this trick. The identity of the real Skanov was exposed, and he was most likely killed.
“When did it start?” Natasha asked bitterly.
“Since the beginning of this year. I remember at that time, I also proposed to you to pull Celestial Trade into this mess. Did you forget?”
Natasha looked at Petrov inexplicably. She didn’t understand why he did it, or why the Freemasonry did this. Knowing the combat prowess of Celestial Trade, weren’t they afraid that they would lose too fast?
“You should be seeing Stalin after I get this stuff.” Petrov grinned and patted the stack of paper in his hand. “But you are very lucky, the superiors think that you still have some value. If you are obedient, you may be able to live a bit longer.”
After that, he gestured to the special forces behind him.
Two special force agents stepped out and walked over to Natasha.
Looking at the black muzzles, Natasha only felt the coldness of her hands and feet, and she probably already guessed what the so-called value meant. Not as a Russian agent, nor as a daughter of Admiral Nikolayev, but as a bargaining chip that could threaten Jiang Chen.
The memories with him flashed through her head. When she reminisced to their night of intimacy, a smile appeared. Somehow, she was suddenly unafraid.
The smile was very gentle; it was nothing like her normal smile.
There was a ray of determination in her eyes. Just as she was preparing to risk it all, a trace of unnatural humming suddenly began to approach from above.
She was not the only to notice the sound.
Petrov looked up and his pupils suddenly shrank, but when he caught a glimpse of what was above, everything was already too late.
The tungsten rod projectile that fell from a height of 36,000 kilometers was melted into droplets as they passed through the atmosphere. They continuously broke through the sound barrier that prevented them from protruding and left explosions behind them. The moment he heard the resonance, the bullets that were as wide as his hand had arrived.
Ten dozen tungsten rod projectiles, like dozens of Tomahawk missiles, bombarded the area. The second the rods hit the ground, they sent kinetic energy to the bottom of the earth. Like bullets hitting gel, they formed a huge cavity in an instant, and instantly shattered the ground below.
The soil was blown up into the air, flying into the sky more than ten meters above, and the reinforced concrete fragments and wooden chips were exploding around wildly. Even the well-trained Arrow elites were caught off-guard by the sudden impact.
That was her only chance!
Natasha used her arms to protect her head, fighting hard to stand up from the ground. Fleeing under the disguise of the dust that covered the sky, she threw out the smoke bomb in her hand.
Almost at the same time, a round of rapid gunshots emerged from the depths of the smoke and swept toward her direction.
Natasha grunted in pain as a bullet hit her belly and another shot hit her in the shoulder. During her escape, she almost tumbled to the ground when a transparent figure emerged from behind her and put her on their back.
The whistling sound of the flying bullets swept past her. Natasha watched the petite figure underneath her with a complex expression on her face.
“I didn’t expect… one day I would owe you my life.”
“You were shot. Are you okay?” Ayesha did not talk nonsense with her but asked in an emotionless tone.
“I’m fine. I wore a bulletproof vest… my left hand might be fractured.”
The bullet pierced through Natasha’s trench coat but did not penetrate the bulletproof vest she wore inside.
This bullet-proof vest was “borrowed” from Jiang Chen’s closet. It was made with high-molecular-weight polyethylene fiber and it could release the kinetic energy of the bullet to the surface of the vest. Therefore, it has the ability to block bullets and to limit the kinetic energy received upon contact to a safe limit.
“Catch her!”
Petrov’s unsettled expression quickly dissipated as he was to first respond to the situation. He roared, snatched up a rifle from the ground, and rushed into the smoke.
A total of twelve special forces; two died and one was injured. If Natasha escapes, he wouldn’t be able to take the fall.
However, just as he rushed into the smoke, he suddenly seemed to have hit a wall and stopped there.
One hand grabbed his neck and lifted him off the ground like he was a little chick.
Petrov’s pupils focused on a point. When he saw the steel-built body, there was nothing but fear.
“A monster…”