He rested his elbows on his desk and buried his face in his hands.
Epilogue
Yacht Sea Tiger
Atlantic Ocean
East of Jacksonville, Florida
Six Weeks Later
Dugan raised his head as the Orthodox priest finished the Russian prayer, and everyone joined in the collective amen. There was a gentle breeze moving across the swim platform on the stern of the large yacht, and he looked out over the blue sky and bluer sea with a sad smile. It was a beautiful day to say goodbye to a beautiful person.
The priest murmured something to Tanya’s parents, and they stepped to the stern rail, Tanya’s fiancé, Ivan, at their side. Tanya’s father tossed a huge floral wreath onto the surface of the sea, and everyone else in the small group stood silently for a long moment and then began to fade back, leaving Tanya’s parents and Ivan some time alone with their grief. The charter captain and his five-man crew had manned the rail nearby, all in crisp white uniforms and standing at attention, but the captain left his position now and moved quietly to Dugan’s side, his eyebrows raised in an unspoken question.
“Let her drift here as long as they want,” Dugan said quietly. “If they look like they’re ready to go, check with me first, and I’ll confirm it with them.”
The captain nodded and dismissed his crew, who moved away quietly to resume their duties. The captain remained nearby looking over the side but keeping a discreet eye on the grieving family, as Dugan followed the rest of the small group of mourners inside.
The crew had prepared a bountiful buffet lunch in the yacht’s spacious salon, and the mourners gathered there in small groups as the steward circulated, taking drink orders. Nigel and Cassie stood in one corner, talking quietly with Ilya, Karina and the priest, while Dugan stood with Alex and Gillian, chatting with Borgdanov. Mrs. Hogan had declined the invitation, on the grounds that she got seasick standing on the dock and didn’t feel up to an ocean voyage, no matter how short.
“Alex,” Borgdanov said, “it was very generous of you to charter this beautiful boat and fly Tanya’s people here all the way from Russia. I know that they appreciate it. It is wonderful gesture, and I thank you for it.”
Alex shook his head. “It was the least we could do. I hope it gives them some closure.”
Beside him, Gillian nodded and brushed away a tear. She started to speak but then shook her head and smiled sadly, as if she didn’t trust her own voice.
“Well, I know it means a great deal to them, and to young Ivan too,” Borgdanov said. “Evidently he has been going crazy searching for Tanya. He seems like good boy.”
The others nodded agreement, and the conversation drifted towards silence, continuing in fits and starts until the captain appeared at the door to the salon and caught Dugan’s eye.
“I think they’re ready, Mr. Dugan,” the captain said as Dugan reached the door.
Dugan nodded and looked over to where Borgdanov now stood with Karina, and beckoned them over to join him as translators.
They found Ivan and Tanya’s parents standing together on the swim platform, looking unsure what to do. Karina hurried to their side, and after confirming that they were ready to leave, gently urged the trio inside to get something to eat. Dugan turned to the captain.
“How long back to Jacksonville?”
The captain looked out at the sea. “Sea’s like a mill pond. Four hours maybe, four and a half tops.”
“Okay. Let’s head back.”
The captain nodded and left, and less than two minutes later the engine speed began to slowly increase as the bow of the vessel swung due west. Dugan stood at the stern rail with Borgdanov and looked aft as the breeze washed over them.
“So how is Texas?” Dugan asked.
Borgdanov chuckled. “Odessa, Texas, is very different from Odessa in the Ukraine, so I think whoever chose this name has vivid imagination or strange sense of humor.”
Dugan laughed. “I thought it might be a bit of an adjustment. But seriously, are all your people okay? Handley’s treating you all right?”
“Da. Better than all right, and Mr. Ray Handley’s ranch is far from town in middle of nowhere, and we can see anyone coming for a very long way.” He moved his arms in a sweeping gesture. “It is like being here, in middle of ocean, so security is very easy.”
Borgdanov nodded. “No, we could not ask for more, Dyed. He brought in many of the houses on wheels — how you call them, mobile homes? But they are very big! Woody tells me they are called ‘double times,’ I think.”
Dugan grinned. “I think you mean double-wides.”
“Da, double-wides. Anyway they are much bigger than anyone’s old apartment in Russia. He laid them all out with streets, and somewhere he even found Russian teacher, so we also have school for the children. We have regular Russian village,” Borgdanov said. “Of course, is temporary, but everyone is learning English, and the children are learning very fast. We will move in time, but there is no hurry, I think.”
“No regrets?”
Borgdanov gave him a sad smile. “Our hearts are Russian, Dyed, so there will always be regrets. But we appreciate the opportunity you have all given us to safeguard our families, so we will try to be good Americans too. The children are very happy, especially the younger ones.”
“And,” Borgdanov continued, “I am happy that thanks to Arkady, we can repay you, Alex, and Mr. Ray Handley for the money you have spent.”
“About your friend Arkady — you do know Ward’s lusting after that intelligence, right?”
Borgdanov nodded. “I understand, and we will do anything Ward requires of us, as agreed. I will also give him anything he needs to support an operation, or if he wants specific information about something in Russia or elsewhere, I will help him all I can. But I will not turn over everything I got from Arkady, because when we are not working for Ward, we will work on our own.” He smiled. “We are Americans now, and I believe in free enterprise, da? Also, I am reminded of what Archimedes said about levers.”
Dugan thought a moment. “With a lever and a place to stand, I’ll move the world?”
“Da,” Borgdanov nodded. “Arkady gave me a very great lever, and you and the others have given us a safe place to stand. And I don’t want to move the world, just Russia.”
“So it’s not over between you and the Bratstvo?”
Borgdanov’s face hardened, and he looked at the eastern horizon.
“Oh no, Dyed. It has only just begun.”
Author’s Notes
As readers of my other work know, while my stories are fictional, they are based on real (or at least plausible) events. That wasn’t too difficult in the past; both Deadly Straits and Deadly Coasts are set in an industry I know quite well and (for the most part) in geographical settings with which I’m familiar. However, when I decided to tackle the issue of human trafficking, that required a lot more research, and what I found wasn’t pleasant.
The events in Deadly Crossing are fictional, but the cruelty of human trafficking and the methods depicted to control its victims are all too real. And while Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Bloc provide the victims for the story (as they often do in real life), human trafficking takes place in every country and every city in the world, including those of North America and Western Europe. Wherever you’re reading this, it’s likely that there are hidden victims of this horrible crime within a few hours’ (or even a few minutes’) journey.
There is a growing movement to assist victims of human trafficking, and if you’d like to learn more about it and how you might help, I’ve included the link to The Polaris Project at the bottom of this page. Named after the North Star that guided slaves to freedom in another time, The Polaris Project is an organization dedicated to ending human slavery worldwide, in all its forms.
http://www.polarisproject.org/state-map/international-locations
Thank You
I’m truly honored you chose to read my work and sincerel
y hope you enjoyed it. If you’d like to read more Dugan adventures, check out the listing of my other books on the following page.
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I truly enjoy hearing from readers, so if you have questions, comments, or suggestions, let me know. Feel free to shoot me an email via my website contact page at this link.
And finally, independent authors such as myself live and die on the strength of our Amazon reviews, so for us they’re a very big deal. But it’s not enough to just accumulate a lot of good reviews, as factors in the Amazon quality ratings also include both the frequency and timeliness of those reviews. Thus a book with a lot of great reviews will tumble in the ratings if reviews don't continue to accummulate on a regular basis.
So the bottom line is, I regularly beg for reviews, and appreciate every single one.
If you’re so inclined, please consider leaving a review of Deadly Crossing at this link.
On that note, and whatever your decision regarding a review, I’ll close by thanking you once again for taking a chance on a new author, with the hope that I’ve entertained you at least a bit, and with the promise that I’ll always strive to deliver a good story at a fair price.
Fair Winds and Following Seas,
R.E. (Bob) McDermott
More Books by R.E. McDermott
Deadly Straits - When marine engineer and very part-time spook Tom Dugan becomes collateral damage in the War on Terror, he's not about to take it lying down. Falsely implicated in a hijacking, he's offered a chance to clear himself by helping the CIA snare their real prey, Dugan's best friend, London ship owner Alex Kairouz. But Dugan has some plans of his own. Learn more and read a sample on Amazon.
Deadly Coast - Dugan thought Somali pirates were bad news, then it got worse. As Tom Dugan and Alex Kairouz, his partner and best friend, struggle to ransom their ship and crew from murderous Somali pirates, things take a turn for the worse. A US Navy contracted tanker with a full load of jet fuel is also hijacked, not by garden variety pirates, but by terrorists with links to Al Qaeda, changing the playing field completely. Learn more and read a sample on Amazon
Table of Contents
Deadly Crossing
Dedication
Author's Notes
Acknowledgements
Thanks
More Books by R.E. McDermott
Deadly Crossing (Tom Dugan 2) Page 30