by Peter Kozmar
Ana moved back to the chair and sat down again. Hans moved to her and began to massage the tension out of her shoulders. “Has he received the brief?” Ana asked sharply, her voice no longer a whisper. Andy sat observing the conversation but not attempting to interrupt.
“No,” Dortman replied, “he has no idea what has happened or why he is here.”
The silence returned to the room except, this time, Andy detected the gentle metronomic tick from the precision Swiss timepiece above the fire place. He felt, rather than saw, Ana examining him closely. He was pretty sure that, despite his best attempt to smarten up on the plane, she didn’t, even vaguely, like what she saw: “Vladim has been kidnapped in Saint Petersburg.”
“What!” Andy sat forward, “Tell me everything.”
His reaction melted her resolve and, as tears streaked down her cheeks, Ana explained, “I knew something wasn’t right. Before he departed, I overheard him having an argument on the phone. Immediately after the call he left. Normally he would be accompanied by Tomas, but not this time. I found it all very unusual.” She used the sleeve of her bathrobe to wipe away the tears.
“You want me to investigate? To find Vladim?” he asked, the day’s events were starting to make more sense. Investigation, analysis, manipulation, interrogation and psychology were the skills Andy had been trained in. His work for the CIA had bought the two of them together in the first place, and, although his skills were rusty and underused, he believed he was still able to call on them to find his friend.
Ana nodded looking slightly defeated, “Apparently you are the best person for the job. I want to know where Vladim is, who has him, … and whether he’s alive or dead? I want him back … Andy.” At the use of his first name, Andy sensed all attempts to remain distant and unfriendly melt away.
He thought for a minute, thinking about what he needed to know and what needed to be clarified. He looked at Ana and couldn’t be sure how long she could hold it together. He’d need to ask his questions quickly or not at all, “I have some questions; do you think you will be able to answer them?”
Ana nodded. Andy didn’t waste any time, “Is it common for Vladim to be angry while on a call?”
“No,” Ana shook her head, “he’d never became angry or lost his temper until that phone call. You know him; calm and controlled even under extreme pressure. I saw a different side to him, a side which I’d never seen before. Whoever he spoke with must have said something horrible about something he really cared about.”
“Could they have been threatening you or your children?” Andy asked.
“We have only one, a boy, Alexander. He’s attending an international boarding school in Switzerland. I don’t believe anyone could threaten Alexander as the school is home to the sons of Princes, Sheiks, Cabinet Ministers, Congressmen and their like. They are protected by the best security. Not just from the high-profile police presence in the village, but also armed secret service agents from several countries in the grounds and at least a dozen private security firms providing protection details whenever the children go off campus or on school trips.”
“Have you checked if Alexander is okay?” The security Ana mentioned would stop any attempted kidnapping, but in Andy’s experience, nothing beats having the assurance of speaking with your loved ones in a time of crisis, especially when it comes to children.
“I spoke with him this morning. He sounded happy and was looking forward to the school holidays in two weeks. We planned to travel to Bermuda where we have one of our yachts anchored. A group of Alexander’s friends will be there on their family yachts.” Ana took another sip of water, her mask slipping as it revealed her genuine concern for her husband.
“What happened when Vladim got to Saint Petersburg?” Andy asked, his tone lighter as he approached the subject of his friend’s disappearance.
“We know he went to the apartment, unpacked and, shortly after, went to a meeting over dinner. He never came back. Vladim would normally be driven around the city,” she added, absentmindedly, “even if it was just two blocks. But that night, for some reason, he gave his driver the evening off and walked.” So, the restaurant is likely to be close by within easy reach on foot.
Andy started to control the conversation, asking questions that required simple answers so that he could develop an understanding of why Vladim would choose to change his pattern on the night in question. “Did Vladim have enemies? Have either of you received threats of any kind?”
Ana let out a short laugh, “Vladim didn’t build his empire without upsetting a few people along the way. You of all people should know what it’s like in Russia. People lost their businesses or their life’s work to him. I never came across any of these people. Vladim has lawyers and Tomas to keep them away.”
Andy looked at Dortman, “Were you aware of any people with an axe to grind.”
Dortman leaned forward, a puzzled expression forming across his face, “Axe to grind?”
“Did you know of anyone who would want to harm him or his businesses?” Hans chimed in helpfully. Andy gave him a thankful nod.
“Not in the last three years.” Dortman paused, leaning back before saying, “We did have a problem with the owner of a car dealership. The owner had lost his franchises with BMW and Mercedes, and we acquired his business for a heavily discounted price. Within a month of signing the paperwork we secured both franchises again for a further five years. The value of the business rocketed and naturally the previous owner believed Mr Martirossian had, how do you say it, ‘shafted him’.” Andy nodded and Dortman carried on, “The man became angry, bordering on unstable, I had concerns for Mr Martirossian, so for a few months I increased our security around him, Mrs Martirossian and Alexander.”
“Why did you call off the security detail, surely the man was still a threat?” Andy enquired.
“He committed suicide … one night he got very drunk and drove his car into the path of a freight train.” Andy let the information sit in the air between them before turning back to Ana.
“Have you seen anything unusual or noticed people hanging around or following you?”
Ana looked at Hans expectantly. Hans shook his head, not looking up and continuing to massage Ana’s shoulders. “No. There hasn’t been anything unusual.”
Andy directed the next question at Hans, “Have there been any break-ins at any of the Martirossian properties?”
“I wouldn’t know,” he looked apologetic, “that is Tomas’s domain.” Andy picked up a degree of bitterness in Hans’s reply but he didn’t let on.
“We’ve not had any break-ins, but if they were a professional team, we would never know that they’d been in. We have had some minor graffiti problems outside our London property. Otherwise nothing has happened.” Dortman replied with a professional tone.
Andy preceded his next set of questions with an apology, “These are somewhat sensitive questions, but they’ll help me understand.”
Ana sighed, “If it is necessary to find Vladim go on,” she folded her arms as if to protect herself from the worst of the scrutiny, “I’m ready.”
Andy wet his lips, not entirely sure how to ask the next question, “Did Vladim have any mistresses or girlfriends?”
Even though he thought she would have expected the question, Ana’s face went through a series of emotions, first stunned, then shocked, finally offended. “No. He didn’t! He is as committed to me as I am to him. There is no one else. There never has been. I am all he needs.” From the corner of his eye, Andy could see Dortman nodding in agreement. Ana’s use of the present tense gave the impression that she believed Vladim was alive. That’s good, I need you to stay positive.
“Did he take drugs?
“No. He never touched drugs,” she replied emphatically.
“Any other vices?”
“He didn’t have any, how you say, ‘unusual interests’.” Dortman nodded in agreement. Ana shuffled in her seat and Hans removed his hands from her shoulders to fet
ch her another glass of water before moving to stand a slight distance behind her seat.
Andy turned to Dortman, “Was Vladim a man who had secrets?”
Dortman looked momentarily uncomfortable, “He is a successful businessman who has many activities on the go at the same time. Mergers, acquisitions and significant investments in new technologies or unicorn businesses. So, I’d say, yes, he does keep secrets.”
Andy shook his head slowly, “You know that’s not what I meant.”
Tomas looked down, his usual look of confidence drained from his face, “Until recently, he shared all of his travel plans and asked advice on many things. In the last three weeks he changed, he withdrew slightly and became more distant.”
“You noticed that too?” Ana whispered.
Dortman continued, “I didn’t know he was leaving for Saint Petersburg until that morning. His decision deeply upset me as my job is to make his life run smoothly and here he was making his own travel arrangements. I started to believe I’d somehow let him down. Maybe I’d be released from my service to him.”
Ana looked at Dortman in surprise, “No, Tomas, Vladim thinks the world of you, he’d never consider replacing you.”
Andy was forming the opinion that, whatever Vladim had been involved in, he didn’t want those he cared for tied up in it. He looked at Ana, “Do you know who he met in Saint Petersburg?”
“No I don’t. Tomas might know?”
Dortman shrugged and shook his head, “He didn’t have any meetings scheduled until this week, there were a number of people he was waiting to hear back from.” He checked his phone again, “He had market development reports to read from two of his companies, but neither of them of importance. Both companies are doing well and were looking towards receiving additional funding for acquisitions. It should have been a quiet week.”
“I need a copy of his phone and text records for the last three months, so I can get an idea of his habits,” Andy looked at Ana who simply nodded.
“Tomas has already gathered them for you, he thought you might need them.”
Andy paused wondering how to tactfully ask his next question and not offend either man in the room, “Just to be thorough, could I also have the phone records of everyone working for the family?”
“Of course, Tomas will provide these to you,” Ana stated, then paused and glanced towards the window. Andy had no more questions and didn’t know what else she expected of him. When Ana spoke again, her voice was softer, “I’d like you to stay today … Andy,” she looked towards Tomas and gave a slight nod, “there may be things you want to question myself, Tomas or Hans about … it would be easier if we’re immediately available for you.”
“Thank you. That would be helpful.”
“Tomas will make sure that you have a room and are comfortable,” she gave Andy another look similar to the one she had given him when she first came into the room. She smiled slightly, and Andy felt as if he’d finally passed one of her tests, though for the life of him he didn’t know which one or what it entailed. “I’d like to see you later.”
Andy turned to leave the room but stopped as Ana’s cell phone rang and she let out a shriek of surprise. “It’s Vladim!” she cried and, before either Andy or Dortman could do anything other than stare at the phone, she answered the call.
CHAPTER 3
“Vladim? Where are you? Are you okay? What’s going on? Are you hurt?” Her questions flowed in rapid succession before she paused, looked at Tomas and Andy, and put the phone call on speaker. Andy leaned in; Dortman did the same. From the other end of the line came a man’s voice with a thick Russian accent, sounding tired and worn. Andy immediately recognised Vladim’s voice. At last, some good news. Vladim was alive.
“Firstly, I’m okay, but I can’t tell you where I am.” After a long pause, they heard a sob, “I’m so sorry I missed your birthday. I was going to take you to where we first met, and then to your favourite Italian Restaurant, La Belle Italiano.” Ana and Dortman exchanged a puzzled look. The voice continued, wistful at a thought of missed days with his wife, “We were going to New York to see Les Miserables, I know it’s your favourite. Then we’d eat those huge bagels from that bakery on sixth and main.”
Tears welled in Ana’s eyes and she slowly shook her head. Andy noticed her tear-streaked cheeks. Her voice shook as she spoke, “Just come home. I love you. Alexander loves you. You’ll soon be back with us and the new puppy, I called him Flinty.”
They heard the sound of a dull thud and Vladim’s corresponding groan of pain, then, they heard another deeper menacing voice in the background: “Stop the small talk. Give her the instructions or I start cutting your fingers off.”
“Darling, I need you to be strong and do exactly what I tell you to do. You need to transfer the company out of the Family Trust into your full control. Then, once you have done this, you are to transfer the company to my generous hosts.”
Ana interrupted him, “But Papa is crewing on the Louis Vuitton round the world yacht race and he’s two weeks out of Cape Town. I won’t be able to talk to him for a month. He has four more weeks of ocean racing before they reach Australia.”
“What has this to do with your father?” the deep voice cut in. It sounded both surprised and irritated.
“Papa is the chair of our Family Trust and nothing can happen without his signature. The yacht will not turn to reach nearest landfall for anything while it’s racing. Even if crew die, they bury them at sea and continue racing,” her voice shook with emotion.
There was a pause, Andy could feel the tension in the room rising: “You have four weeks.”
The line went dead and the room fell silent. Hans moved around the seat to sit next to Ana, he wrapped his arms around her to comfort her. She leaned in, breathing deeply; the silent tears absorbed by the skin-tight sleeve of Hans’s t-shirt. Without disturbing the two on the seat, Dortman stood up, going into the adjoining living area, returning a few minutes later with a steaming mug which he put in front of Ana. He then went to the window and looked out across at the mountain range, clearly trying to hide his own reaction and work out what needed to be done to rescue his friend.
Andy didn’t know what to say, but after a minute of silence, he had to ask the question on his mind. “You looked puzzled by what Vladim said?” Ana looked up at him over Han’s shoulder. Hans released his arm, taking her hand in his, and both turned to face Andy again. Awkward! Went through his mind as he felt a little uncomfortable with the set-up in front of him. He had no reason to doubt Ana’s allegiance to Vladim but Hans seemed to be just a little bit too close for his liking.
Ana smiled at Andy, “He’s wrong. He hasn’t missed my birthday, it’s months away. I don’t like Italian food, and my favourite Broadway show is The Phantom of the Opera. I’ve made him watch it several times. There’s no way he’d have gotten that wrong and we’ve never eaten bagels at a bakery.”
Dortman stepped forwards and interrupted her, “Vladim has full control of the company, it’s not in a Family Trust. The company being in a Family Trust was a story we came up with if something happened and we needed to buy time, a ‘signal’ that all was not well and we needed to make sure everyone was safe.”
“Smart move,” Andy nodded his approval; it had just bought Vladim four weeks of time he hadn’t had before.
“Vladim and I had discussed what we should do if either of us was kidnapped. The Family Trust scenario works well as a stalling tactic as Papa regularly travels to the remotest parts of the globe to participate in one adventurous sport after another.” Ana breathed in deeply, visibly steeling herself, and calming her thoughts. She looked directly at Andy, the vulnerability he had seen in her eyes now buried, “Bring me his dead body and I’ll pay you a bonus of one hundred thousand dollars.”
Andy recoiled internally being careful not to let his emotion show. What! You can’t be serious, he’s not dead yet and, if I have anything to do with this, I’m going to do everything that I
can to prevent that eventuality! He’d never been offered such a large sum of money before and, on top of the already generous amount he would be paid for finding his friend, Ana’s offer would give him more than enough money to live off while restarting his life. Ana’s voice trembled as she looked towards Dortman and spoke again, “Bring him back alive and the bonus is five million dollars.”
Andy’s heart skipped a beat, in a slow and steady voice he said, “I’ll bring him back to you. You don’t have to pay me to rescue my friend, dead or alive!”
She gave him an assessing look, seemingly unsure of what to make of him. She’d offered him a serious amount of money and he’d just turned it down. “Regardless of what you want, bring him back alive and the money is yours.”
Andy was about to reply in protest but Ana held up her hand to stop him as she continued, “To understand what Vladim was working on talk with Tomas, he knows a lot about our business. He has spent enough time with Vladim and is indispensable.” Dortman nodded.
Ana rose from her seat indicating that the meeting was over, and said, “If you’ll excuse me, I’m due for another treatment. It’s good to have you on the team. I just hope you’re as good as …” she stopped herself. She didn’t need to finish her sentence. Andy hoped he could live up to her expectations; it had been years since anyone believed him to be any good at anything other than getting drunk.
After she had left the room, Dortman stood and led Andy back to the reception. Once there he turned to Andy, “We’ve arranged a suite for you, one of the hosts will escort you there, is there anything you need from me?”
Andy fell silent while he thought. “Yes. I need to know where the apartment in Saint Petersburg is and the restaurant Vladim went to on the night he disappeared. I want the name and details of the driver who picked him up from the airport and drove him there. Get me a copy of all his email from the last three months and details of all his social media accounts, including passwords. I need a list of everyone he deals with professionally and personally including how he knows them, who introduced them and any government officials he may have had dealing with recently.”