Chapter 13
The moon hung as nothing more than a thin crescent slicing across the heavens. A steady wind was flicking at the tops of the waves while the first stars were starting to show through the cover of dark cloud. Scenting the fragrant air of land drifting on the sea wind Valentina eased the sheets as she nudged her heading to port drawn by the pull of journey's end; Ikinos was within grasp once more. If only she had not sold her soul then there might be joy in her return. She had done the unthinkable to save her brother and now the time was on hand that she could at last secure his release. Her thoughts also turned with a kindness towards Katrina, the young woman she had once saved from an uncertain future before plunging her into another even more precarious future. She thought less kindly of the Captain; especially since Colby had made unsettling suggestions regarding flaws in his character. Andrej had always presented himself with self assured arrogance. In some men she might have found this an attractive trait but in the captain's case, his swagger seemed supported by little more than his own feelings of self importance. Her mind slipped towards Natasha and Colby but she had learned to quickly deflect those paralysing thoughts... except when exhaustion tore at the edges of her self control.
The nights on the water were starting to be filled with the long anticipated autumn chillness but the days since Dubrovnik had been mostly temperate, easing her troubled mind with the effortless routine of sailing. The Midnight Falcon was part of her now, even the ownership had fallen to her when she had bargained it in partial payment for arranging Natasha's deliverance. Thirty pieces of silver in exchange for a child she had grown to love. Could there be any worse betrayal? She wondered.
If the wind kept up then she should sight Ikinos by the first glimmer of dawn and make landfall in time for breakfast; a prospect that strengthened her resolve. Ikinos still held the memory of a haven for her but her remaining days there were now numbered in single digits. She, Katrina and Andrej would vacate the place of idyll in favour of its legal owner. Adam Prochniak, the leader of the opposition, the man who wanted Natasha Kashinka dead, was the legal owner of Ikinos. The ownership disguised by layers of financial trusts and slight of hand ultimately fell to him but his right of ownership was as open to question as his flawed morality.
...
There were no eager eyes following the Midnight Falcon's return this time. The ketch made its graceful approach as predicted. The sun edged higher until it breached the shimmering horizon and turned the morning sky and with it the Falcon's sails to a delicate pink.
The passage of time when sailing the vastness of the oceans has no absolute meaning. It progresses not by the tick of finite seconds but by the fickle play of wind and water, by the rise and fall of the moon and stars. Valentina's return from Dubrovnik had taken not the fistful of days ticked off on a calendar, but half a lifetime. As she dropped the sails and started the diesel engine for the final approach, she noticed that the motor launch was not moored in its usual place, it was unusual but there could be any number of reasonable explanations. In her present state of mind Valentina took everything as an omen of ill. Putting the drive into reverse she slowed the Falcon allowing its momentum to inch it to the dock at the speed of a leaf on a pond. Then leaping the gap of dark water with the painter in her hands she secured the ketch and started up the familiar winding pathway towards Prochniak's splendid mansion.
It was not until she had reached the main entrance that Katrina appeared. She was haloed against the brightening sky. She looked exactly the same as on the day she had wished Valentina a safe journey. In the same way that a porcelain figurine looks exactly the same after falling from a window ledge. Recognisable in every precious detail but broken. There was a smile on Katrina's face, a welcome but it could not disguise the desperation of her state.
"Has Kowalski done this to you?" Valentina said dispensing with the pleasantries of greeting. Katrina opened her arms for Valentina, the stain of tears had long since dried on her cheeks. Her lip was swollen, her cheek grazed. The blackness of her eye now turned purple and yellow as the old bruising faded. She looked even more emaciated than usual.
"He left me like this... I did nothing..."
Valentina held the girl, suddenly her own self pity evaporating into concern for Katrina.
"I'm back now darling... How long ago did he leave?"
"It must be two weeks, not long after you left... He took the launch... I've been living on what little I could find in the freezer."
"You poor girl... I'm going to make it my solemn duty to feed you up or you'll be carried away by the next gust of wind."
Katrina smiled but she still had her tale to tell.
"Andrej told me he loved me and that we would marry when we left Ikinos. He told me of his plans, what life we would build together when he left the army. But when I brought the subject up again he seemed a different man, he fell into a rage saying I had trapped him. He punched me and twisted my arm violently behind my back... I thought it might be broken at first."
"Can you move it?... Show me."
Katrina winced as she rotated her shoulder but there appeared nothing broken beyond the girl's fragile spirit. "Come on lets get you cleaned up... We'll see what we can find to eat, you look half starved."
"Valentina..." Katrina whispered as if they might be overheard by some malevolence that hid in the shadows.
"Yes."
"It's so good to have you home."
The mansion's supplies were almost exhausted so after making Katrina comfortable, Valentina chugged the Falcon across to Kamari. As she marched away from the moored ketch the heady aroma of freshly baked bread drew her towards the grocery store. She bought enough supplies to see them through a week and then caught in a sudden wave of optimism brought on by the bright day, felt that she might not be totally beyond redemption after all. She walked back past the sea front café, grocery bags swinging to the cadence of her step. The sky had already filled blue and bright with the urgent call of the gulls darting overhead.
"Hey pretty lady... Come and have a coffee. Not seen you in long time."
"Sorry Kosto, I have to get back... Next time maybe." She smiled radiantly at the irredeemable old rascal as if there were no clouds at all on her darkening horizon. Kosto was an old timer, born into a Greece that was still mostly horse drawn. He had earned his livelihood fishing the coastal waters and now spent his days reliving the half imagined memories of his youth. He sat sun-aged outside the café, a part of the furniture. His skin, wrinkled round his twinkling eyes, was dark and leathery on his cheeks. At his feet, as always, rested his half-blind faithful Labrador Escouto, with its greying muzzle and tail that would wag enthusiastically at the slightest provocation. Kosto waved at the attractive young woman... there was plenty of time to chat up the flocks of sweet tourist chicks that flitted across the periphery of his life. One day one may even take his bait... He sipped his dark bitter coffee and chuckled to himself. The dog's tail flapped sleepily.
...
"Do you know what caused Andrej to suddenly turn on you?" Valentina asked as they stood together in the kitchen preparing the first decent meal Katrina would eat in days. "I think he's just a madman; I can't imagine what I saw in him any more. We had started arguing... about nothing really and then shortly after you left he just lost control completely like some crazy person. He seemed to have a lot on his mind... things he would not discuss with me." Katrina put down her knife, fingers trembling at the memory. "When he became violent, I thought he was going to kill me Valentina, I tried to fight back but he was too strong. When he wrenched my arm behind my back I could feel the muscles start to rip..." She wiped her eyes. "I screamed at the pain and it seemed to bring him back to his senses... But he was not sorry for what he had done... He spat at me Valentina, spat at me as if I were nothing... less than nothing. He took the launch and left without speaking another word."
"Not all men are like that Katrina... One day you'll find someone who'll prove me right."
Katrina s
hook her head; her life had been hard, her experiences bitter. Only Valentina had shown her any real kindness since she had left her Babushka. "Valentina, what can I do now, where do I go? I have no one now."
...
It was impossible for Valentina to push Natasha and Colby from her thoughts but even more urgent now was news of her brother Sascha. Valentina took sanctuary in her office and using the satellite phone called Adam Prochniak the man she had come to hate.
"Valentina, I've been waiting for your call..." Valentina detected a slight slur in his speech as if he had been drinking. He was by no means drunk but she imagined him softly anaesthetised against the world he inhabited; a world entirely of his own creation.
"I've done what you asked Adam, you must now complete your side of the bargain and free Sascha."
"Our plans have been thwarted Valentina."
"What do you mean?"
"Have you not heard that Natasha has been kidnapped?"
Valentina sank into her chair, her legs no longer able to support her weight.
"Kidnapped? How? When?"
"Have you not heard? Has Boris not been chewing your ear?"
"No, I've heard nothing... what's happened to her Adam?"
"It seems that your Mr Linden is even less competent that you bargained for Valentina... Kashinka has been taken before we could enact our plan."
"This was never our plan Adam... I played my part in order to save Sascha. Your blackmail was effective but I was never a willing player in your despicable undertaking."
"You chose your path Valentina."
"You left me no choice... I could send Natasha to her death or allow you to kill my brother... It was an intolerable decision that you forced me to make."
"If you say so Valentina. I was just playing the cards that fell my way."
"So who has Natasha now and what does this mean for Sascha?"
"Don't talk to me of Sascha..."
"We had a bargain Adam... unless you keep your word and free my brother then I will dedicate the rest of my life to hunting you down... I have nothing left to lose now."
"Valentina, some clever bastards who knew exactly what they were doing kidnapped Natasha and have put her up for auction to the highest bidder. Mercenary kidnappers driven by nothing more noble than greed. These people knew just how valuable the child was to both factions in Sachovia and I suspect they had inside knowledge... Have your lips always been sealed on the matter Valentina?"
"Of course... you have no right to question my actions. I spoke to no one. Of course I didn't, what do you take me for Adam?"
"I take you as someone who's head has been turned by misplaced grief and anger... Not a recipe for clear thinking in my opinion."
Valentina fell silent. The consequences of this sudden turn of events might just offer her a way to put right what she had done but she could not yet calculate how.
"Valentina, are you still there?"
"Yes... yes is there any more you can tell me Adam?"
"It's pretty certain they will still be in Italy, there would be little to gain by risking a boarder crossing. I also think it is unlikely that the Republic Party will be bidding for her even though I have been invited to do so."
"You want her dead this turn of events seems to be playing out the way you want."
"Hardly... The ransom demands have been passed to me. I can't bid for her rescue and then have her killed... In any case what you must realise Valentina is that things in Sachovia have rapidly escalated since you left. I see open civil war as an inevitability again. As a result Natasha Kashinka has become something of an irrelevance for the Republik Party."
"An irrelevance... after all you coerced me into doing?... Adam tell me where Sascha is, when are you going to free him?"
"Your brother is long dead Valentina..."
"Oh no don't say that..." Valentina sank to her knees. "When... how?"
"He was working under cover..."
"I know that damn you... It's the only reason I couldn't confirm where he was."
"My people discovered his body before this all started. It gave me a way to influence the turn of events."
"And you said nothing, you kept me in hope of saving him for all this time?"
"We realised that as a bargaining chip, he was worth more to us dead than alive. Double agents aren't born Valentina, they are created... I turned you into the treasonable slut that you have become by a simple expedient of holding his release over you head in return for a little duplicity."
"But he was already dead? Even before you turned me into a murderer."
"Yes... Though in fact your action have not resulted in Natasha's death... Not yet."
"You monster!" Valentina screamed.
"I know..."
"How did Sascha die?"
"It was nothing to do with us... I was told it was an infected wound that went without treatment for too long..."
"I'll find you Adam..." The intensity in her voice was enough to rock Prochniak back on his heels for an instant and take away the latent chuckle that lay in his throat. But now that open hostilities had been declared he quickly fired back with the speed of a stiletto stabbing into naked flesh.
"I doubt that you will ever find me... My vaults run deep Valentina. Too deep for the likes of you. Too deep for your grubby fingers to reach me. My vaults are full Valentina and money can offer a lot of protection. How do you suppose I fund my lifestyle... not on the salary of an opposition politician. How do you suppose I fund the Island in Greece that you know so well with its lavish mansion, the house in St Tropez and the Apartments in Paris and London. Do you really imagine they are owned by the Republik Party? No they are mine, together with some millions in US dollars and gold bullion they are set aside to ease my old age. You cannot be so naive as to think that I acquired my fortune honestly, without there being causalities along the way. Valentia war gives the right men, visionary men like me, infinite opportunities. I took my share of the spoils in the '06 war, but I now find I have little appetite for another war. Sachovia is no longer a place I'm willing to battle for... the fools there have exhausted my patience."
"I truly think you are insane Adam, your money will be of no use when they lock you in an asylum."
"I am not insane Valentina. I am the only truly sane man left in Sachovia. It is true, man cannot live by wealth alone... He needs status and that is what drove me, gave me the right to take what I want... What is it that drives you Valentina Gussev?"
The silence as Prochniak ended the call seemed to fill the room with blackness. Valentina's world came crashing down. Sascha was dead and everything hateful she had done had been pointless. It had been two years since she has last seen Sascha; she remembered telling him to be careful as they parted... She remembered his face as it had been years ago when he was full of life, full of nobility and hope for the future. Now she would never see him again, never kiss his cheek, never remember the old times together. Their childhood gone, turned to dust... turned to despair.
...
Watching the autumn dawn appear behind the wind-splintered cloud, it came as a shock to Valentina to realize that she had already spent 24 hours on Ikinos since her return. She had discovered more than she ever wished to know. With Andrej Kowalski gone and her filament-thin connection with Adam Prochniak finally broken there was nothing but aching nostalgia to keep her on Ikinos. But it was no longer safe to stay in that place owned by Adam Prochniak. If she understood one thing about the man it was that he was driven by vindictiveness. Her priority now was to keep Katrina safe. She had no duties left to fulfil, none of an official nature in any case. Sascha was beyond her help now and her remaining duties were self imposed and owed to the living people she had betrayed. It was impossible to undo what she had done but she thought of confession... Not to some invisible sad eyed priest who took upon his shoulders the authority of God. Not even to God himself who's silent answer would give easy absolution... But to the man and the girl she had betrayed. <
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In her mind she saw Colby's face again, on the day that she took him to her room and artfully let her dress slip to the floor; Prochniak had been right she had become a treasonable slut... But she still saw how Colby had looked at her, not with shallow lust but with something much more profound. Her cheeks ran with tears for the man she had betrayed, for Natasha and for Sascha... especially for her dead brother for whom she could now do nothing.
Valentina had no access to Natasha or Colby; the confession would have to wait. The one person who needed her now was Katrina and yet she had left her alone through the night too wrapped up in her own misery. She could at least try to help the one person she cared for whom she had not yet betrayed.
"Katrina.... Katrina." She called across the marble hall. "Pack you things. We're leaving."
Katrina's face appeared at the doorway, she was still dressed in her night clothes. Simple cotton pyjamas, bare feet. With her hair still sleep-ruffled she stood with all her fragility exposed looking about twelve.
"We?" Katrina said uncertainly as if her own welfare no longer warranted the interest of another soul.
"Of course darling, you don't think I would leave you behind on this God-forsaken rock do you?"
The Midnight Falcon Page 13