Carpathian: An Event Group Thriller (Event Group Thrillers)

by David L. Golemon

  “Do you think he will assist?” the man persisted.

  “Oh, yes, and he may also become a convenient scapegoat if things fall apart.” Ben-Nevin turned and opened the car’s front door and then they were on their way to meet a possible partner in the assault on the mountain and he knew that he had very little time before General Shamni in Tel Aviv decided to act.

  Operation Ramesses would be launched and the mountain and the temple would be destroyed—not by God’s fire, but flames with the power of the sun.

  * * *

  Niles wanted the Group represented in the lead Humvee as they set out past the main road that led to the resort. Will Mendenhall was riding with the lead element of 82nd Airborne engineers as the two vehicles started out. They left five men at camp to hopefully wait for the soon to arrive Romanian army trucks with their Event Group equipment. As far as they knew, the trucks and their rather expensive satellite equipment and weapons were still on their way to the Danube.

  Niles always heard about government-run operations outside of his Group as being sloppy at times, but this was the first time he had seen it happen in his department and it frustrated him no end. The perfectionist inside him made him realize just how hard his field teams had it at times and how fast they had to think on the fly.

  Compton reached into his pocket and pulled out a weather sitrep supplied by the 82nd as they accidentally scanned a Romanian army alert that the storm had stalled in the south and that the weather system might miss them completely. And even the parts of the massive front that hit the Danube region had not been as severe as they first predicted. Compton reached over and handed the message to Alice, who was squeezed in between Denise Gilliam and a rather hefty engineer in desert camouflage. Alice read the note. She smiled and shook her head as she handed the message back to Compton.

  “So our equipment is down south assisting a region where the massive storm never materialized, and the entire cover story and Romanian army fronting us hightailed it to that same region. Do you think that anyone will have enough common sense to send at least our equipment back? Or maybe even a few troops?”

  Niles laughed, a short burst brimming with sarcasm.

  “Yes I do, just as soon as we won’t need them anymore.”

  “See,” Alice said smiling back at the director, “Jack’s field humor is starting to rub off on you.”

  He looked at his old friend. “Honestly, I don’t know how that man and his field teams survive sometimes with the dumb, bad luck those boys run into on a daily basis.”

  “Amen,” Alice said as the Airborne Humvees turned onto the road that paralleled the resort and led the way to Dracula’s Castle and then the pass beyond.

  As they passed the main gates of the resort they saw the reporters and protesters standing by as the festivities at the exclusive resort continued into the second day of the private grand opening.

  “I hope Jack and Sarah watch themselves in there.”

  Niles didn’t comment on Alice’s worry; he was looking at the giant steel towers that were the first of many that supported the gilded cable car system. The skyway was operating at only half capacity bringing men and women to the top where they could tour the outside of Dracula’s Castle. After they toured they came down, as they were not being allowed to take a sneak peek inside the gaudy nightclub. The large cars moved simultaneously up and down the giant eight-line cable support.

  “Now that is something you might see in Bavaria or someplace like that. Very impressive,” Denise Gilliam said as they watched the sixty-two-foot cars glide easily along their stretched cables.

  “Yes, and we now know how at least part of that was financed,” Niles said as his eyes moved over to Alice. “Let’s not lose sight of that in the midst of werewolves and Lost Tribes of Israel, shall we. And I hope Jack watches his back inside that den of thieves.”

  Alice knew Niles was right. Discoveries or not, there were still dangers to the game they were playing, the Russian mobster not being the least of them. As they made the turn onto the large and winding road, the Humvees suddenly came to a stop due to oncoming traffic. The column of cars, trucks, motorcycles, and broken and battered travel homes cut the corner sharply and headed in the direction they were currently going. The lead car was a battered and very old Citroën sedan. As Niles watched the cars stream past he saw that each vehicle was filled with women, children, and men. They were all dressed brightly and every dented and rusted-out car or truck had loud music blaring from open windows. Niles even saw a rather large pig riding shotgun inside an old Mercedes truck.

  “What in the world?” Dr. Gilliam asked as they watched the Gypsy caravan move off ahead of them. They too were heading for the Patinas Pass.

  “It seems the Gypsies are gathering,” Alice said as she leaned forward to examine the caravan more clearly. “I cannot believe we are seeing this.”

  “What’s so special about a caravan of locals?” Denise asked.

  “I could be wrong, and this is a rather large guess,” Alice said as her smile grew with every passing car or battered camper, “but I think Mr. Everett’s young and very former Mossad agent from Rome has arrived.”

  “You mean they know about her and are coming back to greet her?” Denise asked, finally removing her eyes from the road where the last of the twenty-two vehicles slowly passed by.

  “I believe so.” She looked at Denise and then slapped Niles on the knee as the Humvees fell into the back of the caravan’s long line of color and sound.

  “What?” he asked.

  “The Gathering?”

  “What’s that?” Niles asked as the Humvee started up the long road toward the Pass.

  “Gypsies hardly ever gather in one large group. These travelers are not just your typical Gypsy band. What we have here is the extended royal family if you will. They travel as a small family or as a caravan as they move safely together from one place to another. But they ordinarily never congregate at any location where they are exposed as a whole. The special ones—the Gypsies that are royalty, for the most part they never left Europe. They stayed and they separated and never do they come together as a people. Now here they are and there can only be one explanation for it,” she said as she reached for a small journal she kept in her jacket pocket. She thumbed through it until she found the entry she was searching for. “The family of man is getting ready to have a change of power. Someone is stepping down as the king, or the queen.” She smiled broadly. “I suspect that’s why they are gathering.”

  As Alice began to believe in her dreams coming true, the two U.S. Army Humvees followed the motley group of Gypsy revelers as they climbed past Dracula’s Castle and the high mountain beyond.

  12

  After Collins had sent Ryan and Pete out to see if they could get a hint of where Captain Everett and Charlie Ellenshaw had disappeared to, he decided he and Sarah needed to start getting close to some of the seedier characters in the resort. Perhaps that way they could get a line on the antiquities that seemed to have flooded the world from this not so very sophisticated criminal, Dmitri Zallas.

  He and Sarah had been studying the man’s dossier for the past two hours trying to find a common thread with any of the names of Jack’s security watch list for antiquities theft. Thus far they had discovered several very familiar faces in the milling crowds of gamblers and revelers. As the couple roamed the grounds freely they did spy several of Dmitri’s henchmen keeping a close eye on them.

  As they strolled along the mud baths and steam rooms of the atrium they saw men and women used to the decadent way of life soaking in the hot mud and natural steam baths of the mountain. Zallas was placing no mind to the cost of this expensive weekend as every guest seemed to be attended by one or more of the hotel staff. They were approached no fewer than three times and offered drinks, towels, robes, and any other accouterment that comes along with the filthy rich and pampered in the short time they walked through the beautiful spa area.

  “Do you think we co
uld talk Niles into building one of these for the complex?” Sarah jokingly asked as she dipped her head at a rather large and bulbous-looking man with a beard as he slowly sank into the mud with an appreciative glance toward Sarah. Then as she watched the man’s face became a scowl as he quickly rose from the mud complaining about the excessive heat.

  “You bet. I’m sure he can scrape together the extra $45 million in the budget somewhere.”

  Sarah smiled and then just as quickly lost it when she saw Zallas with his ever-present group of men and women around him approach with a wide smile. Jack’s worst fears about a blown cover came readily to her mind.

  “Tell me my friends, are you enjoying your stay at the Edge of the World?” he said with a smile that said he just ate the cat that ate the canary and there wasn’t anything anyone could do about it.

  Jack and Sarah both knew the sole purpose of this little run-in was for Zallas to gauge who he was dealing with when it came to Americans. The colonel knew Zallas suspected, but for right now that was just about all. He would play his little hand to the end.

  “One of the more hospitable resorts I have ever been to,” Jack said, even though he had never been to a resort in his life. “And also one of the more gracious hosts I have ever encountered.”

  Zallas tilted his head and laughed as he held out his hand to Jack.

  “I don’t believe I have had the pleasure, Mr.—?”

  Collins, as did Sarah, studied the man’s demeanor and they both knew at that exact moment that their fears were not unfounded. Zallas, while he may not know just who they were, suspected they could be some sort of law enforcement, and he was gauging the two to see what steps he would need to take to make sure his interest was protected.

  “Collins, Jack Collins, Colonel, United States Army, and this is Lieutenant Sarah McIntire of the same organization.”

  Zallas had a hard time not showing his surprise as he quickly and deftly bypassed Jack’s offered hand and instead took Sarah’s and harshly kissed it, making Sarah wince at the wetness of the action. Between Zallas kissing her hand and the utter shock she was feeling after Jack had suddenly blurted out exactly who they were, Sarah was flustered enough that she froze after Zallas kissed her hand and then finally reached for Jack’s.

  “Now this is surprising. How does a soldier, and one so beautiful,” he said, shaking the colonel’s hand and then quickly looking at Sarah in her expensive pantsuit that no longer fit the cover they had blown, “find their way to my resort?”

  “That’s easy enough, uh, Mr. Zallas is it?” Jack asked.

  The Russian stepped back and smiled. He nodded his head and then fixed Collins with a look that bordered on distaste.

  “Yes, Dmitri Zallas, I am the owner of the Edge of the World.”

  “As I said, Mr. Zallas, there is a simple enough explanation. We were assigned to the NATO forces and had some time off. By a fluke we decided, what the hell, let’s see if we can get a reservation, and here we are. I admit to using absconded invitations but they can only kick us out, right?”

  “Yes, but kick out is harsh term. I’m sure we could come up with something better than that.” Jack heard the veiled threat buried in the comment. “Strange though that our reservations center isn’t in operation yet and all of my guests and business acquaintances were all informed of the pre–grand opening by courier.”

  “If that’s the strangest thing you run into all weekend, I’d call that pretty good,” Jack said as he returned the stare of Zallas.

  The Russian raised a hand and gestured toward someone Jack couldn’t see. Soon enough Gina Louvinski strode up to the group.

  “Yes, Mr. Zallas,” she said, nodding her head at Jack and Sarah, wishing they would have stayed clear of the mobster.

  “This is our resort’s general manager, Ms. Louvinski,” Zallas said.

  Jack and Sarah knew that the Russian had obviously been informed that they had exchanged words early this morning with Ryan and Pete in attendance.

  “Yes, we met Ms. Louvinski this morning before breakfast.”

  “Ms. Louvinski will make sure your time at my resort is an enjoyable one. Gina, please make sure the colonel and the lieutenant have passes for the show tomorrow night at Dracula’s Castle. Make sure their table is close to mine,” he said smiling as his eyes went to Collins. “Shall we also make arrangement for your two companions to join the fun?” he asked in almost passable English.

  “The more the merrier,” Sarah said as Collins and Zallas continued to face off. Both men were smiling but neither was showing any mirth in their eyes. Finally Jack held out his hand to the Russian.

  “My thoughts exactly,” Zallas said as he quickly brushed Jack’s hand with his own and then nodded his good-bye as he took Gina by the arm and he and his entourage moved away. Gina nodded her head at Jack and Sarah as she was pulled out.

  Collins and McIntire watched the group leave. Zallas looked as if he wanted to kill the general manager right there in the spa. She was shaking her head and Jack knew the woman might pay for their subterfuge. Maybe he shouldn’t have told Zallas exactly who they were, that could only mean trouble for the Romanian woman.

  “Jack, if I may ask, have you gone totally insane?” Sarah lost all pretense of being his subordinate and turned on him. “‘I’m Colonel Jack Collins and this is Lieutenant So-and-So of the United States Army.’ I ask again, have you lost your mind?”

  “Look, he knows we are not his friends, and he knows we don’t do business with him, so it would have been foolish to keep up the facade. That man knows bad people and he would have seen us coming from five miles away. He knows for a fact that Ryan and Pete are with us, so why lie? If he was that worried about us he would do something about it. Since he didn’t we have bought some time while he tries to figure out what to do about us. Just maybe being that he’s Russian he would be hesitant about killing any NATO representatives.”

  Sarah rolled her eyes at the colonel, letting him know in no uncertain terms what she thought of his exercise.

  “Have you considered that maybe that man is just a nutcase and would order us killed anyway, just because he didn’t like or trust us? What makes you think he had the sophistication to think beyond the fact that some people tried to penetrate his security and did? And do you think he’s smart enough to order us buried someplace up there?” She gestured toward the mountain.

  “That’s what I’m banking on.”

  “He’s not Henri Farbeaux, Jack, this man has not one ounce of honor, he reacts, he doesn’t think.”

  “Well, I hope you’re wrong.”

  * * *

  Zallas stopped admonishing Gina about the reservations deceit Collins had just told him about and then pushed her away to see to the guests.

  “Those two, and their two companions?”

  “Yes, Mr. Zallas?” the largest of the five bodyguards asked.

  “They are never to leave this valley. U.S. Army my ass. If they’re not Interpol or American CIA, or FBI I will give Janos Vajic the deed to this resort.”

  “Sir?”

  “I want all four of their heads, hands, and teeth removed, and then buried amongst the rocks where the crows can’t even find them.”

  * * *

  Pete Golding and Jason Ryan were just two of the twenty guests of the resort who stood looking up at the majestic sight. The cable car wasn’t even a quarter full and that left plenty of viewing space for the men and women as they gasped at the setting high above them at Dracula’s Castle. While Pete marveled at the modern architectural materials used to create the illusion of age and strength and noting that the castle was something to behold, Jason was trying to figure out just how many of the men and women inside the car were actually there to view the castle, or who was there to keep their eyes on him and Pete. Thus far he had counted at least two of them as Zallas’s people. They just weren’t quick enough to look away when Jason turned toward them several times.

  “Do you think the captain an
d Charlie came up here?” Pete asked.

  “It’s a place to start.”

  As the cable car rose to its optimal height on its way up the mountain, a hidden speaker system kept the guests informed as they studied the design of the castle. It was a recording by a very familiar Hollywood actor who seemed to narrate anything that came down the pike these days and it surprised Pete and Jason very much to hear his voice explaining the Vlad Tepes legend and the cross-reference to the Dracula tale, and all of this was done in English, Romanian, and French. As the castle grew larger the words of the narrator was starting to have its effect. As the voice explained why Vlad was deemed insane Jason and Pete felt the history of this mountain come alive.

  The car climbed and Jason jabbed Pete on the side as he gestured out the window and down. Far below on the wide road parallel to the castle and winding upward to the pass high above, they saw a long line of over a hundred vehicles of every make and description. Jason nodded his head and suggested Pete look in the center of the long column. Pete nodded when he recognized the two Humvees that stood out like new cars at a wrecking yard.

  “Well, at least someone is sticking to some form of the plan we had going in.”

  Pete looked at Jason and nodded just as the car approached the large platform where the passengers would be discharged. There was a mild bump as the car gained the platform, which was built to look like large embedded stones and thick, fire-hardened wood. There were wrought iron torches lining the wall, and while they were gas fed and burned brightly, it was still an adequate effect. Pete was impressed. Jason was not as he saw the two men who had been eyeing them step off the car with the rest.

  Ryan and Golding stepped from the car and watched as the two men hesitated and then when they knew they couldn’t stay behind the crowd without being noticed, moved off with the oohing and awing men and women as they examined the lobby of the giant nightclub.

  The interior was done like a Hollywood movie set and even Ryan had to gasp at the decor. It was something right out of a Bram Stoker novel. The expense shown in decoration alone proved to Pete and Ryan once and for all that this place required inordinate amounts of cash.