by Dirk Patton
“Then what?” she asked. “What do you need thirty-seven trucks for?”
“Too many possibilities,” Strickland said. “Hell. Maybe Barinov is thirsty for some wine and they’re on their way to clean out Napa Valley.”
Irina looked at him for a beat before rolling her eyes. She followed with a smile to let him know she was only teasing.
“Big deal?” Igor asked.
“Good question,” Strickland said, turning to Irina. “Is it a big deal? Bigger than getting you to LA to start talking to the senior officers?”
Irina immediately shook her head.
“No, not more important than that. If I am successful and Barinov is overthrown, whatever the convoy is doing will no longer matter. My original mission must remain the priority.”
“Okay,” Strickland said. “But maybe we’d better hedge our bets and get word to Hawaii. They need to know the fuckin’ Russ... er, that Barinov is up to something.”
“How do we do that?” Irina asked, ignoring the aborted derogatory comment about her countrymen. “If I am not mistaken, all of our communications gear is on the bottom of the ocean.”
“Point Mugu,” Strickland said. “Naval Air Station. We’ve gotta pass right by it. Should be able to find something there.”
Irina was quiet for a few seconds before nodding agreement. Putting aside her unfinished meal, she slowly got to her feet.
“If you will excuse me, I am going back to bed.”
“Leavin’ when it gets dark,” Strickland said.
“Is that wise? Without night vision?” Irina asked.
“No choice. Movin’ in the daytime, we’ll stick out like a sore thumb. Too easy for some bored jet jockey to look down and start wonderin’ who we are and what we’re up to.”
Irina thought about that for a second before nodding and turning away to go to the bedroom.
“Hang on a sec,” Strickland said, reaching for Irina. “May I?”
She gave him a funny look but allowed him to take her hand. Guiding it gently, he placed it over the bruise on Igor’s arm. Her thumb and first two fingers were a perfect match.
“No such thing as mermaids, dude,” he said to Igor.
Igor looked at Irina’s hand then pointed at his unmarred skin beneath her last two fingers and glared challengingly at Strickland.
“Big deal! Those two are the weakest. She probably just couldn’t squeeze tight enough to bruise your thick hide.”
“What’s going on?” Irina asked, totally confused.
“The big ape thinks a mermaid saved him. What’d you call it? Rutaka?”
“Rusalka,” Igor grumbled.
Irina looked at the two men and shook her head in amazement.
“You two really do not have anything better to do than argue about mythical creatures?”
“He started it,” Strickland said, then pointed at her plate. “You gonna eat that?”
“Be my guest,” she said with another shake of her head, then leaned down and kissed Igor on the cheek.
He watched her walk out of the room, but Strickland was completely occupied with wolfing down the last bite of her dinner.
“Dick,” Igor said.
“Don’t get mad at me! I’m not the blow-hole that claimed a mermaid rescued him.”
Strickland looked at him with a big grin on his face as Igor grumbled something he didn’t understand in Russian.
“Yeah, well. Don’t speak fuckin’ Russian, but you can go pound sand up that. And I was gonna share with ya, but...” opening one of the packs he’d brought from the grocer, Strickland produced a bottle of vodka, “I’m starting to rethink things.”
He glared at Igor for a few beats, then broke into a broad smile. Pulling the cork, he held it up between them.
“To Irina!” he said and took a swig before passing it over.
“Irina!” Igor said, raising it to his mouth. Smacking his lips, he thought for a moment before raising the bottle again. “Fucking Russians,” he said with a shit-eating grin, then took a long drink.
“Fucking Russians!” Strickland cried with a laugh when he got the bottle back.
24
I lunged forward, slapping the drink out of Viktoriya’s hand and grabbing her throat before the crystal glass hit the driveway pavers and shattered. Lifting her off her feet, I snarled in her face.
“Where is she?”
She struggled against me, trying to take a breath. I threw her into the bushes like a rag doll, shot a look at the door to make sure none of the shooters were charging out to engage me, then fired a suppressed round into the dirt an inch from her head. Mud fountained into the air and rained down on her.
“Where?” I hissed.
“She is not here,” she said, rubbing her bruised throat.
“Bullshit! I know she hasn’t left!”
“You know nothing. If you do not believe me, go inside and see for yourself.”
Reaching down, I yanked her onto her feet and tightly grasped a fistful of hair before shoving the weapon into the small of her back.
“You’re going first,” I said in her ear. “Tell your men to stand down or you’ll get the first bullet.”
“I am alone,” she said, surprising me with her composure.
“Move!”
Maintaining a grip on her hair, I pushed her forward and stayed close behind. Dog, who knew Viktoriya as a friend gave me a puzzled look. I told him to stay put and he slowly lowered his ass to the ground.
Moving through the door, we entered a short hall with an expansive kitchen at the end. An open door to the right was a laundry room and I cleared it while keeping Viktoriya at arm’s length between me and the kitchen.
“There is no one here,” she said with a sigh of exasperation. “If you will listen, we can discuss how you can get Mavis back.”
I jerked her hair hard enough to cause her neck to pop loudly.
“Shut the fuck up!” I muttered in her ear.
Pushing, I got her moving forward again and carefully entered the kitchen after checking all the angles. A laptop was open on a large island in the center of the room, facing us. I froze Viktoriya with a sharp tug when I saw Mavis on the screen.
“John!” she cried, lunging close to the camera on her end.
A large hand appeared, coming down on her shoulder and pushing her back into a chair.
“You can speak with her if you like. Or perhaps you would prefer to continue wasting time and search the entire house.”
I hesitated a second then tapped the transmit button on my vest that controlled the earbud.
“Need you up here,” I said.
“On the way,” Chapman replied instantly.
“Can you hear me?” I shouted toward the laptop.
“I can hear you!”
“Are you okay? You hurt?”
“I’m okay. I want to come home!”
“Working on it, honey. Where are you?”
I didn’t expect that she’d know, and if she did they wouldn’t allow her to answer, but I had to try.
“I don’t know. They took me through a tunnel, then we drove around for a long time.”
“Enough!” Viktoriya called and the screen went dark a second later.
I wanted to snap the bitch’s neck. Twist her head completely off, but there was enough rational thought still in me to recognize the futility of doing so. It would only hurt Mavis. I settled for shoving her forward and deriving a small degree of pleasure in watching her stumble and crash to the floor.
“Dog!” I called.
I heard his nails on the tile a beat later, then he was next to me. Pointing at Viktoriya, I told him to guard. This time there was no puzzled look. He took a step closer to her and showed his teeth.
“Don’t get up or try anything. He’ll kill you.”
“Then Mavis would die. If I do not check in hourly, my people have instructions to terminate the girl.”
There was the sound of engines and a screech of tires from the d
riveway. Doors were slammed, then Chapman was at my side with a weapon in hand.
“Check the house,” he said, and four of the eight Marines hurried through the kitchen.
“What’s she doing...”
I turned as Rachel realized what Viktoriya’s presence meant. She was rooted in place for a second, then suddenly lunged forward, bringing her pistol up. I grabbed her, pinning her arms against her body and held tight.
“I saw Mavis on the computer,” I whispered into her ear. “She’s okay, but she’s not here. Can’t kill Viktoriya. Not yet.”
It was several long seconds before I felt the tension drain out of her body.
“What does she want?”
“Don’t know yet. Need you to keep it together. Okay?”
She nodded, and I slowly released my hold. After a couple of seconds, she holstered the pistol, crossed her arms and glared at Viktoriya. Martinez moved to stand next to her, putting her arm around her in support.
“House is clear. Tunnel in the basement. North wall.”
One of Chapman’s men was reporting in over the radio. He quickly dispatched a team to check the neighboring house to the north.
“Tell me what you want,” I said to Viktoriya.
The news about the tunnel validated her statement that Mavis was no longer here. Viktoriya smiled and sat straighter, then looked pointedly at Dog.
“As you can tell, I am quite unarmed. Can you call off the beast so I can stand?”
“You’re fine where you are,” I said. “Now start talking.”
She sighed dramatically then shrugged her bare shoulders.
“I want you. To be more precise, Comrade President Barinov wants you.”
“Tell me something I don’t know. He’s been after me for a long time.”
A frown of confusion crossed her face.
“I know nothing of what you are speaking. I am here to bring you to him because his health is failing. After Admiral Packard’s miraculous recovery, he is most eager to receive the same restorative properties that you carry.”
“It’ll be a cold fucking day in hell before I do anything other than gut that bastard like a fish!”
“Mavis will not be released until you have fulfilled this task. If you refuse, she shall be killed. Those are the terms.”
“And John?” Rachel asked. “What happens to him once Barinov is healed?”
“I suppose he will have to die.”
25
Chapman left one of his men to watch Viktoriya and followed Rachel and me outside. Both of them started to speak at the same time but I held up a hand to stop them.
“Still on comms, Chief?” I asked into the radio.
“Here, sir. I’ve been listening.”
“There’s a computer here that was connected to another, wherever Mavis is being held. Can you find it?”
“Working on it,” she said, then went silent again.
“I’ve got a guy that can get her to talk,” Chapman said. “Former CIA interrogator.”
“How fast? She told me she has to check in hourly or her people will kill Mavis.”
“Not that fast,” he said shaking his head. “You believe her about the hourly checks?”
“Everything else has been a lie, but I don’t have a choice.”
“Bitch played us, alright,” he grumbled.
I looked at Rachel, seeing the helplessness I was feeling reflected in her eyes.
“What do we do?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
“You cannot turn yourself over to them,” Chapman interrupted.
“None of your goddamn concern,” Rachel snapped.
He nodded and waited a moment to respond.
“If Barinov is really in failing health, that could solve so many of our problems. When he dies there will be a power struggle at the top. Odds are very good that the senior officers who are inclined to work with us instead of continuing hostilities will be successful. That has the potential to save thousands, if not tens of thousands of American lives.”
“Sacrifice Mavis for a possibility?” Rachel asked incredulously.
“If what she says is true, we have a light at the end of the tunnel that’s not an oncoming train. His death would drastically alter the situation. However, if saving his life and restoring him to full health were to happen, there is a greater than even chance that the million or so souls on this island are doomed. I’m sorry. I’m not insensitive to the little girl’s plight. But one life...”
“No!” I said firmly enough to end the discussion. “I’m not willing to start trading one innocent life for another. No matter how many would be saved.”
They stared at me, neither saying anything.
“Then you’re going to surrender yourself?” Chapman asked quietly.
“Wouldn’t be the first time. Besides, if I can get close enough to the motherfucker, none of it will matter.”
“They’ll never let that happen. They might not even take you to the mainland, just drain you dry here and take the blood to Barinov.”
“Then that’s the offer,” I said, grasping at straws. “I’ll let them take blood in exchange for Mavis!”
“Yes!” Rachel said excitedly. “That would work. They get what they want, and we get Mavis back!”
“Maybe not,” Chapman said. “Them, I mean. Ever read Virgil’s The Aeneid?”
I just stared at him, but Rachel nodded her head in thought.
“A poison, or virus, or...” she said, voice trailing off in thought.
“The Trojan Horse,” Chapman explained when he saw the expression on my face.
“You don’t think they’d test the blood?” I asked once I understood what they were talking about.
“I have no doubt they would,” Rachel said. “We need to talk to Joe!”
I wasn’t sold on the idea, but it didn’t hurt to ask a question.
“Chief. You up?”
“Here, sir. Still working on tracing the IP address.”
“Need to speak to Joe Revard. It’s urgent.”
“I’ll have him call your phone,” she said, then was gone.
I got my phone back from Rachel and thirty seconds later it rang.
“Need your help,” I said by way of answer.
“This is Doctor Kanger. Joe isn’t here and the young woman said it was urgent.”
I briefly explained what was going on and the idea Chapman and Rachel had come up with.
“Anything you can think of that would pass a screening but still put the fucker in his grave?”
He was quiet for so long that I was about to ask if he was still there when he finally spoke.
“Two possibilities, but they’ll kill you, too.”
“What? No, something we can put in the blood.”
“I understand, but suppose they agree to this deal. They’d never accept blood they didn’t collect themselves. That means the agent would have to already be in you. Sorry, it’s an out of the box idea, but it won’t work.”
I relayed his comment and Rachel’s face fell as she nodded agreement.
“Okay, thanks. Gotta run.”
“Hey! Hold on a second.”
“I’m here.”
“Okay,” he said slowly as he organized his thoughts. “Here’s a wild idea. It’s not without risk, but it might work.”
“Let’s hear it,” I said, activating the speaker so Rachel and Chapman could hear.
“It’s actually Barinov that gave me the idea. Back when he took over, there was speculation flying around the media that Putin had actually been assassinated. Don’t remember what got them started, but I do remember reading something. Something about undetectable radiation poisoning.”
“Polonium 210,” Chapman said, earning a surprised look from both me and Rachel. “Russians used it during the cold war as an assassination tool. It emits zero gamma radiation and the alpha waves are so weak it doesn’t trigger radiation detectors. Slow acting, but it’ll do the trick. He’d b
e dead in a couple of weeks. Less if his health is bad.”
“Doctor?” I asked into the phone.
“I didn’t know what the isotope was, but I can do some research now. The trick will be to get it back out of you once the blood is drawn. I don’t know if that’s possible, or not. Give me a little time.”
“Time’s one thing we don’t have. Fast as you can, please.”
“Understood. I’ll call you when I know something.”
The call dropped and I tucked my phone away.
“Sir,” Jessica said over the radio.
“Go.”
“They’ve got the IP routed through over a dozen servers, each one configured to mask it. I can give a detailed explanation if you like, but the end result is the location is untraceable.”
Fuck.
“Thanks, Chief.” I looked at Rachel. “I’m going to talk to her. Offer up the blood.”
“You heard Doctor Kanger. We don’t know if that will work,” Chapman said.
“And I’m not waiting for him to do research.”
“Then what?” Rachel asked.
“Going to make the offer.”
“And if she says no?”
“Then I’m going to put the fear of God in her,” I said as I re-entered the house.
“Get up,” I said when I walked back into the kitchen.
Viktoriya was still on the floor with one of Chapman’s Marines and Dog watching her. She slowly climbed to her feet and I kicked a chair out from the table and pointed at it.
“Are things about to become unpleasant?” she asked as calmly as if enquiring about the weather.
I ignored the question and sat down across the table from her.
“Here’s the deal. You can draw enough blood from me to save Barinov in exchange for Mavis.”
She looked at me for a long moment, watching my eyes.
“That is not acceptable. Comrade President Barinov was most insistent that you were to come to California.”
“Then he’ll fucking die, which is what I’d prefer anyway.”
Her eyebrows went up slightly.
“You would trade Mavis’s life for his? No, I do not think so. You care for her as if she were your own child. I can see that. You will not sacrifice her.”
It was quiet in the room for a long moment. I sighed, then carefully removed the contact lenses that were hiding my red eyes. With them safely tucked away, I looked at Viktoriya. Gave her time to grow uncomfortable with an infected staring at her. Without warning I reached across the table and grabbed her wrists, yanking her forward until her upper body was lying on it and our faces were almost touching.