Drawpoint (Blake Brier Thrillers Book 4)

by L. T. Ryan

  “Thank you. Your card has been activated. You have thirty minutes until expiration.”

  A plastic card appeared in the slot, lit by green LEDs. Haeli plucked it from the machine and, after another quick look around, headed for the vault.

  From the entrance to the short hallway, the vault opening was visible. Wide open, the two-foot-thick door sat snug against the hallway wall.

  A guard sitting behind a small podium nodded as she passed into the vault. His job was one of appearances. But she noticed he was armed.

  The typical safe deposit vault, whether in Israel or the United States, was a single room housing rows of locked compartments. For this reason, only one person could access their box at a time. Here, this was not the case.

  Once inside the main vault, there were smaller rooms to the right, left, and straight ahead. When occupied, the locked doors showed a red X on the exterior of the door. Inside, there was only one drawer. By inserting the temporary magnetic card, internal mechanisms retrieved the appropriate box from somewhere beyond view and delivered it to the requester.

  It was private and efficient. But most importantly, it did not require a name, fingerprint, or photo identification. Anyone with the twelve-digit code could access it.

  None of the rooms appeared to be occupied. She chose the first one on her right.

  Once inside, she remembered how spacious they were. Even with the high rectangular pedestal in the center of the room, it could have accommodated three or four people without having to crowd together.

  She approached the drawer mechanism and inserted her card into the slot. Following a digital tone, a whirring and ticking sound continued for thirty seconds or so, before ending with a metallic clunk. The handle of the drawer lit green.

  She placed the case on the counter and then pulled open the drawer. With two hands, she removed the safe deposit box and set it down on the counter next to the explosives.

  “I have eyes on him,” Blake said.

  Haeli reached into her ear and removed the communication device and let it slip from her fingers to the floor. With her heel, she crushed it.

  “Haeli, do you read me? I think I’ve lost audio. If you’re reading me, the target is moving to the front doors. He’s got ‘Earless’ with him. Stay alert. Plus, there are two more posted out front. Do you copy?”

  Blake waited for a response. There was nothing but static.

  Haeli unlocked the door and stepped into the vault corridor, empty handed except for the magnetic keycard.

  As she passed, she flashed the guard a friendly wave, then turned her attention to the faces of the patrons in the lobby. She spotted them immediately.

  Sokolov and Nikitin. They really did look like brothers.

  Both dressed in gray suits, white shirts with no ties. They earned no points for originality.

  Haeli made a beeline toward them, ending up nose to chin with Sokolov.

  “Now you have your diamonds, you leave me and Blake and everyone else I know alone.”

  “Where are they?”

  Haeli held the card in front of his face with two fingers. “They’re in the safe deposit box. Go get them yourself.”

  Sokolov snatched the card from Haeli’s hand. She pushed past him, but before she could take another step, the fingers of Nikitin’s left hand clamped around her upper arm.

  “No so fast,” Sokolov said. “You’re not going anywhere until I have them in my hands.”

  Haeli noticed Nikitin had shoved his hand into his jacket pocket. She could see the barrel of the pistol pulling taut against the fabric.

  “What are you going to do, shoot me? In the middle of a crowded bank?”

  Nikitin sneered.

  But not Sokolov. He seemed to find amusement in the question.

  “I am a valued customer here. I am sure I can smooth it over. Or do you think the police will arrest me? It hurts that you underestimate me so. After all that we have been through together. You need to understand something. I could shoot everyone in this bank and burn it to the ground and still walk right down the middle of the street. No one will touch me. How do you like that for power?”

  “You’re a sick man.”

  “I am. But not as sick as Pavel. And I promised him he can have you if you do not deliver. So, I tell you one more time. We go together. If you are lying to me, you will live the rest of your short life in Pavel’s basement. Let us go now, yes?”

  Sokolov started walking toward the vault. Nikitin forced Haeli behind him.

  As they passed the guard, she considered flagging him down. Screaming for help. But she knew it would only get the poor guy killed along with her.

  Inside, Sokolov moved by several vacant rooms, finally settling on the last one on their right. He opened the door and waited, while Nikitin shoved her inside.

  “Haeli, can you read me?”

  The silence was deafening. Blake looked at his watch. She should have been out by now. It was a simple handoff. Half a minute, tops. No, something was wrong.

  “Haeli, I’m gonna come in after you. Talk to me.”

  Nothing.

  If things had gone to plan, he would have already made the call and the police would be on their way. Now, with no communication and no visual, it was anyone’s guess what went awry. Did Sokolov open the case immediately and stop her from leaving? Was everyone in the bank frozen in a hostage protocol?

  The only good news was the bomb hadn’t been armed. Even if things had gone south, no innocent people would be hurt.

  He reached into his back pocket.

  What the—

  He tried the other.

  Haeli! What’d you do?

  Why would she lift the remote? What was she planning on doing? They had a plan. They agreed. He couldn’t wrap his head around it.

  There was only one way to find out. He would have to go in. The only problem was, he’d have to get through the two goons first. And chances were, that was going to cause a scene in itself.

  Damn it. I’m going.

  Blake eased out onto the sidewalk and crossed the street. He fell in a few feet behind a family of three, who didn’t appear to be in much of a rush.

  There were two possibilities ahead. One, the men hadn’t been instructed to look for him or were too dumb or distracted and he could just slip by, unnoticed. Two, well, all hell would break loose. If that were the case, he’d have to get close enough before they noticed him to have any chance at neutralizing them both.

  Head down, he inched his way toward the steps.

  Sokolov inserted the card. The machinery did its work and the handle turned green.

  Haeli made it a point to remain optimistic, even when things looked bleak, but there was no bright side to this scenario. Whatever happened, it was hard to see how she would end up as anything but dead.

  Sokolov removed the box and placed it on the pedestal. He swung the lid open to reveal the shiny metallic case inside.

  “How did you think you would get away with stealing from me?” As he spoke, he lifted it out as if removing the stone tablets from the Arc of the Covenant.

  Haeli raised her voice. “Take them. Take them and leave. I don’t ever want to see your face again.” It was a last-ditch effort, and a weak one at that.

  “Let us not get ahead of ourselves.” He placed his thumbs on the latch levers.

  “No!” Haeli reached for the case.

  Nikitin swooped in, grabbed her by both arms, and slammed her onto the floor.

  She hit hard, landing on her hip. It throbbed.

  Then, from her pocket, she heard a faint beeping.

  The remote.

  Sokolov released the latches.

  It’s armed.

  “No!”

  As Sokolov lifted the lid, Haeli threw herself onto her stomach and covered her head with her hands.

  Then, nothing.

  She sat up.

  Sokolov stood staring at the tubes and wires. He ran his hand along the inside of the empty
safe deposit box as if he had somehow missed a pile of diamonds in the visual inspection. Then he lifted the empty box above his head and smashed it onto the ground by his feet. “You bitch!”

  Haeli sprang to her feet and dove at the handle of the door. It swung open, and she tumbled into the vault corridor. Nikitin darted after her.

  Back on her feet, she sprinted past the guard and into the lobby, Nikitin a few feet behind.

  The guard hopped off his stool and started to give chase.

  As she glanced over her shoulder, Nikitin crashed into her, tackling her to the ground. He straddled her and blasted her in the face with a right jab. She put her hands up to try to protect her face.

  “You stupid bitch.” He hit her again. “You tried to kill him? Blow him up? But you failed.”

  The guard pulled his gun and pointed at Nikitin. “Get off of her. Hands up. Hands up.”

  Nikitin stopped and raised his hands. As he stood, he wound up and delivered a football kick to Haeli’s abdomen. The force slid her a body a foot across the marble floor.

  “You’re wrong about one thing,” Haeli coughed. “I didn’t fail.”

  She reached into her pocket and pulled out the remote. Her finger hovered over the button.

  Haeli could see the realization appear in his eyes. Then anger. Then horror.

  What Nikitin did next, she would never have expected. He took off in a sprint. Not for the doors, but toward the vault.

  “Olezka! Get out! Get out!”

  Haeli brought her knees up, curled into a tight little ball, and pushed.

  Click.

  Boom.

  Haeli’s eardrums rattled. A wave of heat and air assaulted her. A cloud of smoke enveloped the room. And then, it was over.

  Ears ringing, Haeli looked to her left. The guard laid on the floor, next to her. Blown off his feet. He slowly got himself into a seated position.

  Haeli staggered to her feet. She orientated herself, the light coming through the blown-out doors, a beacon in the murky haze.

  Her lungs revolted against the fumes. Pined for a breath of fresh air. She pushed forward toward the daylight.

  Blake reached the steps. Leaving the cover of the meandering family, he would have to close the remaining gap in the open. They hadn’t noticed him yet. Maybe he could get the drop.

  He scratched his head, covering his face with his hair and his forearm. All the while, moving closer and closer.

  Four feet, three, two. He cocked his fist at his side.

  Boom.

  The building rumbled. The glass doors shattered, pelting Blake with stinging shards and sending debris raining down into the street. Smoke billowed from the void.

  Haeli.

  The buzzing of the fire alarm lingered in the strange silence.

  Sokolov’s men ran toward the building.

  Blake followed. “Haeli!”

  As he passed the enormous columns and under the arch, Haeli appeared through the smoke. A phoenix from the ashes.

  Blake triaged her from a distance. She was tattered, but otherwise did not appear to have any catastrophic injuries.

  He ran to her. Hugged her. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m okay.”

  He put his arm around her back and helped her toward the steps.

  “Mick, I’m fine. I can walk.”

  Reluctantly, he let go.

  Haeli picked up speed, hustling down the steps.

  Blake caught up. “We’ve gotta get out of here. What happened?”

  “Sokolov’s gone. It’s over.”

  As they turned the corner at the end of the building, they ran. As fast as their legs would take them.

  35

  “I think we’re far enough,” Blake huffed. He wasn’t sure how far they had run, but he figured it was at least a mile. They needed to regroup, and they weren’t going to be able to do it on the move.

  “I’m with ya. Let’s find a place to duck out for a few.” Haeli’s speech was unaffected by the physical exertion. Not a hint of elevated respiration. It was annoying. The woman was nearly blown up, and then ran a six-minute mile. The least she could do was pretend to be winded.

  “Follow me.”

  At each intersection they had taken turns calling their next move. Haeli preferred cutting through courtyards and parking lots. Whenever Blake had his say, he chose to continue straight. To his mind, the more distance, the better.

  He figured they had gotten far enough away from the melee that they could blend in. Here, somewhere in the seemingly endless swath of a commercial district, people on the street went about their business, oblivious to the fact that the explosion had occurred.

  But they would know soon enough. Everyone in proximity to a television, radio, or internet connected device would know in a matter of minutes.

  By now, the circus would be arriving. Police, fire, news media, the works. There would be initial speculative reporting about the explosion, but it would take some time to determine the actual cause. By the time information started to flow, he and Haeli would be back in the United States, tuning in to BBC World News.

  “There.” Blake pointed out a storefront cafe. Max, it was called. Max Cafe. There were tables set up on the sidewalk with plastic chairs, some yellow, some green. All of them were empty. The front door was held wide open by a stopper, leaving no guesswork as to whether it was open. It looked inviting, and it was as good a place as any.

  Inside there were a few tables, also empty. Blake chose one by the window. Even though they would be visible from the street, it was the furthest table away from the counter. There were things they needed to discuss. In private.

  The TV mounted on the wall played a daytime talk show. A Swiss knockoff of The View unless it was the other way around. The volume was turned up loud enough to provide some cover while they talked.

  Haeli sat while Blake went to the counter.

  “Two coffees, please.”

  The young woman walked away and returned with two heavy mugs on saucers and a stainless-steel pitcher of cream.

  “Black’s fine, thank you.” He dug out whatever cash he had, then separated the Swiss francs from the euros.

  “Säch einefüfzg.” Six fifty-one. The woman spoke Swiss German. Quite different from standard German, but he was able to decipher her meaning.

  He handed her ten. “Keep it.” He picked up the coffees by the saucers and balanced them over to the table.

  “Coffee?”

  Blake shrugged. “We can’t just sit here without ordering.”

  “Obviously, but I was thinking something with chocolate. This is Switzerland.”

  “Are you serious right now?” Blake lowered his voice. “You’re going to sit here and act like nothing happened. What the hell is going on, Haeli? Why did you detonate it? You could have been killed. Not to mention go to prison. You probably just created a freakin’ international incident.”

  Deja Vu.

  It was like watching a rerun of the day they met. Running from the Las Vegas convention center, dipping into a small empty bar to regroup. To access the damage. He remembered sitting across from her and wondering who she really was and what she was really up to. Now he wondered the same thing.

  “Don’t be mad, Mick.”

  “Don’t be mad? The whole time you acted like you were good with the plan, but you lied to me.”

  “I was, at first. Even when we got here, I intended to stick to it. It’s just—”

  “What? Not crazy enough for you?”

  “No. Too crazy. Too convoluted. It wasn’t going to work. He was never going to prison, Mick. I’m sorry, but it wasn’t gonna happen. And as long as he was alive, we would have been in danger. I know it seems like I tricked you but—”

  “It doesn’t seem like you tricked me, you did trick me.” Blake looked toward the counter to see if the worker was eavesdropping. She had retreated to somewhere in the back. He kept his voice low, regardless. “Look, it was a little over-reaching, I’ll adm
it, but half of it was your idea. You’re the whole reason we’re in Zurich in the first place.”

  “There’s a reason we’re here, Mick. You know how I said that I was familiar with that bank, that I had used it before? Well, I still had a safe deposit box there. That’s the reason why it had to be that bank.”

  “Okay, I get that. I mean, I get the reasoning. It made it easier to get into the vault. Made it look like you were legitimately getting the diamonds, all of that, but—”

  “Mick. You don’t get it.” Haeli twisted her head toward the counter. Then back again. “I was getting the diamonds. From the safe deposit box. My safe deposit box.”

  The statement hit him like a twelve-gauge slug. Was she saying what he thought she was saying? She hadn’t left much room for misinterpretation.

  “Haeli, no. No. No. You are not telling me this. After everything, now you’re saying Sokolov was right? That’s bull. I don’t believe it.”

  She stared him in the eye. Her face placid, lacking any of the appropriate emotion. She dipped her hand below the edge of the table, below Blake’s sight line, and shifted her body. Then, with a smirk, presented a palm full of large, jagged, colorless stones.

  “My god.” Blake covered his face with his hands and then ran his fingers through his hair. “This can’t be happening. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I don’t know. I thought about telling you. But the way you got so upset that Sokolov was accusing me, like it was absurd to even suggest I would have anything to do with it. I felt like you’d be disappointed with me.”

  “Well, you were right about that. I am disappointed. Not that you stole them—well, that too. But mostly because you lied to me. If I had known you had them all along, we could have taken a whole different approach with Sokolov.”

  “Exactly. You would have wanted to give them back. As if Sokolov would have just said ‘Oh, I’ve got them back, we’re all good now, have a nice day.’ Tell me you wouldn’t have.”

  “So instead, you were willing to die so these pieces of rock could sit in a safe deposit box forever?”

  “Listen to yourself, you’re being delusional. He was going to kill me either way. I wasn’t going to let him have the satisfaction. I wanted him to go to his grave knowing that he got burned. It was the reason I decided to take them in the first place. To stick it to the bastard.”