Skills to Kill

by Brian Drake

  24

  You Trust Me?

  They arrived at the motel and took adjoining rooms—Nina and Poppy took one, while Dane and Savelev unpacked in the other.

  “Well,” Savelev said as he surveyed the room, “I guess when you’re on the run, you take what you can get.”

  “Be grateful there isn’t an accordion player nearby.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Forget it,” Dane said.

  The television was bolted to the wall; the telephone and remote control were bolted to the nightstand; the beds looked lumpy and the bedspread appeared thin. The cheesy paintings on the wall weren’t worth looking at, and patches of the carpet were flat from previous foot traffic. It wasn’t the Ritz. It wasn’t a level or two down from the Ritz. It wasn’t the bottom of the barrel, but close.

  Savelev placed his bags on the bed and went into the bathroom. Dane called McConn, keeping things vague. McConn had linked up with Lukavina and was up to speed. They talked about travel arrangements, and McConn promised that a CIA jet would be at their disposal. McConn said that the homing devices were working and they had him pinpointed and would hang back until further notice.

  The toilet flushed.

  “Gotta run,” Dane said. He hung up.

  Savelev joined Dane at the writing table. “You didn’t bring any liquor, did you?”

  “Left it behind. There’s a place up the road.”

  “I think I’ll take a walk.”

  “Okay.”

  “I can trust you to watch my gear?”

  “You can trust me. Not sure about Nina, though.” Dane grinned.

  Savelev let out weak laugh and stood up. “I shall return, my friend.” He went out, pulling the door quietly shut.

  Dane went outside and lit a cigar. He watched Savelev walk toward the street.

  A door opened behind him. Nina stepped out.

  “Where’s Poppy?” Dane asked.

  “In the shower. Where’s Alek going?”

  “For booze. He says.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He’s testing us. Are we going to run off with his crap or not? The joke’s on him.”

  “Uh-huh. And the bigger joke is on us if McFadden—”

  “We’ll find out if he’ll feed us to the sharks soon enough.”

  “Alek won’t have that recording on him. We still need to find that. Even if it’s hidden somewhere, you don’t want to risk anybody ever finding it, do you?”

  “We’ll find it.”

  “We may have another problem, too.”

  “Poppy?”

  “She says if she has to run, she’s going on her own.”

  “How big is the window in the bathroom?”

  “Not big enough.”

  “Did you explain we won’t just let her go?”

  “Sure. She doesn’t care.”

  “That’s our girl,” Dane said.

  “I think we can use her.”

  Dane nodded. “If the proper moment comes, don’t let it slip by.”

  Nina nodded and shifted her eyes from him.

  “What’s wrong?” he said.

  “I didn’t tell you the whole story between me and Alek.”

  “Did you two have an affair?”

  “Heavens no,” she said, looking back at him. “I think he wanted one, though. He helped me find some people once. You know.”

  “No I don’t. Hon, there’s a lot you won’t talk about, and I think that’s why you drink so much.”

  “Don’t start with that.”

  “Then tell me the story. Are you afraid we’ll have to hurt Savelev?”

  “Yes.”

  “What did he do?”

  She told him the story of Dimitri, the night on the bridge, the three men who had chased her with intent to kill.

  “Savelev recruited me into the FSB,” she said, “to pick up where Dimitri left off. Local mob case. They wanted to take down the chief. Of course, later I found out they wanted that fellow out of the way so Putin could put his own man in charge, but that’s another story.”

  “What you’re saying is that you’d hate to kill him.”

  “Yes.”

  “We may not have a choice, babe.”

  Nina let out a sigh. “I know.”

  Savelev returned with a couple of bottles of whiskey, and the four gathered in one room to pass the hooch and take the edge off before going to bed.

  Nina switched off the lamp and scooted under the covers. The bed was cold. No Steve to help warm it up. Sleeping alone wasn’t fun. She rolled onto her right side. “Can I tell you something?”

  Nina rolled to the left but did not turn on the light. A low glow from the walkway lights outside filtered through the closed drapes. “What?”

  “I can’t go with you. I wasn’t kidding earlier.”

  “You don’t have a choice right now, Poppy.”

  “Tell me what to do. You should know all about lying low, changing your identity, all that spy stuff.”

  “What will you do with your new life?”

  “I sure as well can’t keep doing what I’ve been doing. All I wanted was some fun, but now look at us. Could I really be executed for this?”

  “I don’t make a habit of telling lies,” Nina said. “Look up the Walker spy ring or Aldrich Ames. You’d probably only get life in prison, though.”

  “What can I do? This isn’t like running a con or anything where I didn’t need papers or ID cards or things like that.”

  “You never had the cops chasing you?”

  “Nobody that I couldn’t get away from using my smile. This is the friggin’ government we’re talking about. With heat like this, you boogey and talk later.”

  Nina switched on the light. The young woman, covers pulled up to her neck, made eye contact. “Stick with Steve and me. If we can’t clear your name entirely, we’ll get you set up somewhere. You can’t do it on your own. You don’t have the experience. But if you waste your new life partying—”

  “No way. I’m done with that. I don’t quite see myself as a working girl, but I suppose I can adapt.”

  “Get some rest. We’ll sort it out.” She turned off the light again and rolled over. She and Steve needed any ally they could get, even one like Poppy August. If they could keep her on their side, maybe dealing with the Duchess wouldn’t be the death sentence she thought it was.

  Dane lay in bed staring at the ceiling. The bed was actually warm despite the questionable covers. His mind raced with possible options, but no new ideas came. He had to face McFadden. He wanted the Duchess at the end of his gun. The fight had gone on long enough. He had never been a fan of just barreling into something without taking precautions, but this time it seemed like the only way.

  Savelev started to snore. Dane glanced at the clock and waited another fifteen minutes; the snoring continued. He put his feet on the floor and crossed the carpet to the dresser beside the television. He rooted through a black bag but found no lock box. He did find Savelev’s iPhone. Of course he had a code Dane needed to tap in order to unlock the screen, and he was constantly surprised by how many people didn’t keep their tap codes from view. Dane had watched Savelev use his code several times. He missed it on the first try, but the second unlocked the phone. Dane took it into the bathroom, where he sat on the toilet lid and scrolled through. There was no contact list or recently dialed calls. Savelev apparently dialed everything from memory and erased the record at the end of each day.

  Dane searched some more. He ignored the apps. Opening the notepad, he peeked at each note but found nothing worthwhile until he saw a note that was only an address, with Box 47 noted below. A bank and safe deposit box number? Most likely. And it was also likely that he’d placed the lock box in the bank. He committed the address to memory.

  Dane flushed and left the bathroom, and dropped the phone back in the bag. He added the bank address to his own phone before crawling back under the covers.

  Savelev contin
ued to snore.

  The next morning, Poppy zipped her suitcase closed and was about to place it by the door when Nina stopped her.

  “I want you to have this,” she said, and handed the redhead a compact 9-millimeter Glock. Her spare.

  Poppy took the pistol in both hands. “You trust me?”

  Heck no, Nina thought. But the little girl needed a lifeline, and Nina was happy to provide it and cement Poppy’s need for her and Dane.

  “Don’t let anybody know you have it. Even Alek.”

  “He was in love with you once,” Poppy said. “He told me.”

  “I know.”

  “Do you think—”

  “Because he brought you along, yes. The others are going to talk, but I think you know more than all of them combined. You would have been the most damaging witness. If he wasn’t in love with you, he’d have shot you.”

  Poppy blinked a few times.

  “He’s not a good man, Poppy.”

  “I’m not much for relationships anyway. Guys get too clingy.”

  The younger woman stowed the Glock in her purse.

  “Let’s get breakfast.”

  The four ate at a neighboring diner, and Dane outlined their travel plans. He had to laugh at how closely he was working with the Agency again. The travel plans had been made with Agency contacts and aircraft. Lukavina and McConn would be close behind every step of the way.

  As she ate, Poppy kept her eyes down. She made no comment or asked any questions. Only Savelev talked at the end.

  “When do we leave?”

  “Anytime,” Dane said. “The pilots are only waiting to hear where we’re going.”

  “Ever been to Finland?”

  “Once or twice.”

  “We’ll land at the airport at Helsinki and then take a chopper up the gulf to where my employer is waiting. Leave the chopper arrangements to me.”

  “She’s on one of the islands in the gulf?”

  “Yes.”

  Dane covered his thoughts with a mouthful of corned beef hash and egg yolk. He did not like the idea of being stuck on an island but did not appear to have a choice. If that’s where the Duchess was, that’s where he would go.

  “What kind of accommodations does your plane have? It’s a long flight.”

  Dane grinned at Savelev. “Leather seats, satellite television, phone service and liquor for twelve.”

  “Who else is going?”

  “Oh, just us.”

  Two hours later, Dane and his companions boarded the Cessna Mustang and deposited their baggage in any available space. As everybody else sank into the plush leather swivel chairs, Dane scanned the tan carpeting with nervous eyes. The jet was part of the regular CIA fleet, but because of its side-mounted engines, an agent could not parachute out the door without getting sucked into the turbines. What CIA engineers had done to compensate was install a motorized trap door in the bottom of the planes for agents to jump from should there be a need for such activity. The plane had all the hallmarks of government inefficiency. Buying a plane with the engines under the wings would have been too damn easy. A drawback to the modification was that often there were lines cut into the carpet to cover the trap, but not this time. Lukavina and his boys had thought ahead and covered the trap with what looked like entirely new carpet. A nice touch.

  Dane found a chair and strapped in. The cockpit door opened and the copilot stepped out, and Dane did a double-take. The copilot, complete with the uniform of white shirt and black slacks of all pilots, was Todd McConn.

  He grinned at Dane and spoke to everybody else. “All buckled up? We’re taking off in a few minutes.” The jet lurched as the pilot began to taxi. McConn grabbed the doorframe. “Damn, Harvey, let me sit down first.”

  “That’s Captain Harvey to you,” the pilot replied.

  McConn shut the door.

  Dane glanced over at Nina and shrugged.

  Within five minutes they were in the air, and the dull throb of the quad engines filled the cabin. Dane mixed four whiskey and sodas to get everybody comfortable.

  The best they could do for food was an assortment of pre-made sandwiches or frozen dinners. After a few hours Dane and Nina served up the eats. Dane refilled the glasses and proposed a toast. He said, “To a terrific escape, and our future business together.” He winked at Nina.

  “I can’t thank you two enough,” Savelev said.

  “No problem,” Dane said.

  “We are a good team, aren’t we?” the Russian said.

  Dane smiled.

  25

  Meet the Duchess

  They landed at Helsinki International and taxied to a private hanger. McConn opened the exit door and thanked everybody for flying with them. He even complimented Dane’s shoes. Dane wanted to punch him in the nose.

  Once on the ground, Savelev took over. He made a phone call as they approached the terminal, and a customs officer met them at the door, brought them into a private room and inspected and stamped their passports. No fuss, no delay. Dane raised an eyebrow at Savelev, who only smiled.

  They followed Savelev out of the terminal to another hanger, where a chopper waited. Dane said, “I’ve never gone through customs that fast, anywhere in the world.”

  “Compliments of my employer.”

  All four squeezed aboard the helicopter. The pilot lifted off and flew east across the length of the airport. The cut of the gulf lay in the distance.

  Dane watched the sprawling city below. The only thing separating him from being a red spot on the ground was the thin metal of the chopper’s body and a piece of Plexiglas. He felt his sweat turn cold. Maybe he didn’t like small aircraft, he decided. The ride wasn’t bumpy, and that made the cramped conditions more bearable.

  The pilot steered left and followed the waterway. They passed over boats and the small islands that dotted the gulf. The larger land mass on the opposite side was an extension of the city. The pilot flew straight ahead. Another island in the distance grew larger as they neared, and the pilot made a circle over it. The island was covered with forest but included a large multi-level mansion on top of a hill. The roof of the mansion poked through puffs of green. Behind the mansion rose another hill, the perfect rear guard for the place. The pilot circled for a landing on a helipad located on the western side. Just before touchdown, Dane spotted a jetty on the southern side lined with small boats.

  This is where the final battle would take place. It had been a long road. Italy. Paris. Greece. Mexico. New York. Friends and allies sacrificed in the struggle. A lot of scars and deeper wounds. And now the prize. If they could take it. Butterflies stirred in Dane’s stomach. If they could take it indeed.

  The chopper descended onto the helipad. Near an arched doorway a few steps off the pad stood a man and a woman.

  Nina clamped a hand on Dane’s wrist and squeezed. Hard. She saw the same thing he did. The woman, they did not know. Presumably she was the Duchess. The man was Sean McFadden.

  The woman was tall, hippy and busty, dark-haired, with smoldering dark eyes and a set to her jaw that left her lips a flat line. She also had the high cheekbones of a Slav. She stood with folded arms in a blue dress and black boots.

  As Dane climbed out of the chopper, he saw McFadden whisper something in her ear.

  Dane helped Nina out of the helicopter, instinctively bending at the waist to avoid the whipping rotors overhead despite the blades’ being high enough. They hung back while Savelev hustled around the back of the chopper and, leading Poppy by the arm, approached the Duchess.

  “Hello, Angelica,” he said. She offered her cheek and he pecked it.

  He introduced Poppy, and the Duchess nodded curtly at the redhead. He introduced Dane and Nina, and the Duchess smiled. A little.

  “I have heard a lot about you,” the Duchess said, making no move to shake hands. “I am Angelica Kyznetsov. You already know the other name I’m known by.”

  She spoke with no trace of an accent.

  She said, �
��My number two, Sean McFadden,” and gestured to him. As usual his dark hair was slicked back; he wore a gray sweater and blue jeans. “He’s my all-around troubleshooter.”

  McFadden shook hands, and Dane caught the smirk McFadden tried to hide. Dane stepped back. The next move was Sean’s.

  The Duchess led them through the doorway. Inside stood a pair of guards. She asked the guards to escort the guests to their rooms.

  Dane and Nina had a large bedroom with a king bed and private bathroom. Cream-colored walls, muted colors; nothing too fancy, nothing bolted down. The window offered a partial view of Helsinki and highlighted the black waters of the gulf, which looked like a huge gap of space between danger and safety. The chopper ride had taken less than ten minutes, but Dane felt very far away.

  They dropped their suitcases on the bed and immediately removed their handguns from the X-ray-proof bottoms of each case.

  “How long before McFadden talks?” Nina said.

  “He might be talking right now. Or he might not be.”

  “You still think—”

  Somebody knocked on the door. Dane reached for the knob while Nina stepped to one side with her Smith & Wesson M&P Shield in hand and her finger on the trigger.

  Dane opened the door. “Yes?”

  One of the guards who had escorted them to the room stood in the hall.

  “The Duchess wants you both,” the man said, “for dinner at eight. I’ll be back to get you at a quarter till.”

  Steve Dane stared at the man a moment. “Okay.” He closed the door. He turned back to Nina. She put away her gun.

  “I hope she can cook,” Nina said.

  “I’ll settle for the food not being poisoned,” Dane said.

  “I hope you like fish,” the Duchess said.

  Dane certainly didn’t complain, and neither did the others. Smoked salmon served in a cream sauce and accompanied by russet potatoes and steamed vegetables.

  “I like simple food,” the Duchess said.