“You’re not happy to see me,” Dargo said, finally breaking the unpleasant silence. “This is how you greet an old friend?”
“You made it pretty clear where we stood, the last time we spoke,” Cyrus said finally. “Considering that conversation,” Cyrus’s eyes flicked to the gun Dargo still held in his lap. “Or the fact that you came strapped, I’m going with no. I’m not glad to see you, Dargo.”
The Russian pursed his lips, making a show of considering Cyrus’s words. He nodded in understanding. Finally, the man smiled. “What is the American saying? ‘Fair enough?’”
Cyrus held his gun steady. There was no waver, no wobble to the sight picture he’d drawn on Dargo’s head. Maybe 35 feet between them. It wasn’t a difficult shot. In his peripheral vision, he could see Reese’s eyes were large. Her eyes went back and forth between Dargo and Cyrus.
“Use two fingers,” Cyrus warned. “Do it now.” He didn’t need to explain what his was referring to.
Showing no concern whatsoever, Dargo released his grip on the gun and picked it up between the thumb and pointer finger of his right hand. With a slow and gentle flick of the wrist, he tossed it to the carpet. It landed halfway between them.
“I intend no harm,” Dargo said calmly. “But we must talk. Something has happened.”
“You don’t need a hostage to have a conversation, Dargo. Normal people use telephones. Cut her loose, now!”
“Da, da! Slow down,” the Russian encouraged. “You’re not exactly in the book. This last week, you have become a very difficult man to reach. Your friend Professor Meade, he died. You came out here and met Miss Knoland. Then you,” he searched a moment for the words. “Then you drop from the grid. Not as simple as picking up phone, you see.”
“Enough!” Cyrus said. It wasn’t so much a yell as an end to the discussion. “Cut her loose. Once she is safely out of here, you and I can have that talk. But nothing happens until she’s out of here.”
Dargo raised both hands in a placating manner and nodded. “Da,” he agreed. He reached over and peeled the strip of tape away from Reese’s mouth.
The moment the tape came free, Reese’s pleading look finally made sense to Cyrus. “There’s two of them!” she bellowed.
Cyrus was already in motion, turning to his left. His eyes fell on a dark object already flying at his head, even as he spun. As the object came into view, Cyrus saw it spark with flashes of electricity.
A last minute pivot was enough for him to get his shoulder up. He felt a crush of pain course through his body as the Taser’s 50,000 volts made a glancing impact. Luckily he rolled out of reach of the remaining jolt before he lost motor function. Still, the blast was enough to knock the gun from his hand.
Dropping to a knee, he grappled the wrist of the oncoming attacker. Using the man’s momentum and weight against him, Cyrus recognized the bandaged face of Yuri Dargoslav as the man was launched overhead. The Taser was still crackling, even as Yuri crashed to the floor in a heap.
Cyrus didn’t see his gun within reach. Oddly, Dargo still sat calmly on the couch beside Reese. He seemed content to let Yuri deal with the situation. That was fine with Cyrus. His gun nowhere to be seen, he went with plan B. A flick of his wrist and the telescoping baton he had just pulled from his back pocket extended to its full two-and-a-half-foot length. And just in time. Yuri recovered from his impact with the floor by rolling to his feet and drawing a semi-automatic pistol with his left hand.
Allowing Yuri time to take aim would prove fatal, so Cyrus instantly closed the gap. He brought the tip of the baton down on Yuri’s gun with a snap that sounded like cracking metal. The gun winged across the room. The shock was evident on the young man’s face.
This gave Cyrus his first good look at Yuri Dargoslav. The man’s nose was heavily taped. It had clearly been broken in their last skirmish. His face was black and blue. It explained the aggression he now brought to his attack. The gun had only just fallen from the man’s hand when Yuri batted Cyrus’s baton holding hand to the side and landed a solid right hook to the side of his head.
The hit was more solid than Cyrus expected. Yuri’s right hand was wrapped in a heavy plaster cast. It was another keepsake from their last encounter. Taking the shot to the head in stride, Cyrus wobbled on his feet and sagged a few inches toward the floor. But it was a feint. He wasn’t woozy from the impact; instead he bent at the knees, turned his hip slightly and rose to deliver an uppercut, catching Yuri completely unprepared.
Yuri’s head snapped back from the impact. He staggered backward. By the look on his face, the world around him was spinning out of control. But to the man’s credit, he didn’t drop. A decade of brawling had taught the young man how to take a beating as well as how to deliver one. Yuri stumbled backward several steps, but he promptly shook off the effects of the blow. With a snap of his wrist, he extended the blade on an eight-inch automatic dagger. His eyes narrowed on Cyrus.
“Enough!” Dargo bellowed.
The fight was escalating quickly and Cyrus didn’t like the outcome he foresaw. He suspected that Dargo didn’t either. Though he didn’t know what Dargo wanted, Cyrus wasn’t going to drop his guard with Yuri standing before him with a knife. The man was out for blood, and Cyrus knew Dargo calling him off wasn’t going to be enough. Cyrus just wanted to get Reese out of here. If Yuri didn’t obey Dargo’s command to stop, Cyrus would put him down. But he would do it gently. Dargo had already lost a daughter. Cyrus couldn’t bear to take his only remaining child from him.
When Yuri lunged with the dagger, Cyrus wasn’t the least bit surprised. He parried the blade away with one hand and smacked the man in the throat with the side of his other hand. Yuri’s knees folded like a cheap card table. A right hook to the head laid the kid out cold. Putting Yuri down gently was the basic idea. He would live, and the fight was over for the foreseeable future.
Turning back to the living room, Cyrus was surprised to see Dargo still sitting on the couch. Reese had fled the man’s grasp and was now on the far side of the room, struggling in vain with her bindings. She was safe for the moment. Since Dargo was still stationary and not an immediate threat, Cyrus retrieved his gun and Yuri’s knife. Reese arrived at his side, and Cyrus quickly cut her bindings.
“Just the two of them?” Cyrus asked Reese quietly.
“No,” she said. Fear was still clearly evident in her eyes. “Three more in the back bedroom, waiting for you!”
He hadn’t heard a sound from that end of the house. He glanced over his shoulder and down the hallway. Hondo was standing, gun at the ready. “Clear,” he said simply. He’d taken care of the three men at the other end of the house, without so much as a sound.
“Check the perimeter?” Cyrus asked.
“Roger that.”
Hondo walked quickly past them and disappeared out the door leading to the garage.
“Did he hurt you?” Cyrus asked Reese.
She took a moment to consider her answer. “No,” she said quietly.
Cyrus read between the lines. She was trying to decide whether having the shit scared out of her constituted harm. She had decided not. He was more than a little impressed.
Since Dargo was not armed, at least outwardly, Cyrus kept his gun casually at his side. He just watched the man and waited for an explanation.
Dargo appeared to be regarding Cyrus as well. Finally, he seemed to come to a decision. He put both hands on his knees and looked squarely at Cyrus. “This makes the second time you could have taken my boy’s life,” he said.
It wasn’t a question, so Cyrus didn’t offer a reply. He waited for Dargo to make his point. The man wouldn’t be here, if it wasn’t to make a point. Had he wanted to kill Cyrus or abduct Reese, Dargo would’ve brought a full tactical team. Instead he brought only Yuri and enough men to subdue Cyrus when he got off the platform. There would be a reason for it. Cyrus chose to wait for the man to explain.
“Why?” Dargo asked finally. “Why let my boy live? You h
ad him just now. Is a tactical mistake to allow reprieve. I know for fact you were taught differently. I also know you got the better of him in Manhattan. There too, you let him live. I wish to understand why.”
Cyrus’s eyes had never left Dargo’s. Now that the question was asked, he took a breath. He glanced over at Yuri, unconscious and in a heap on the floor. With a slow shake of his head, he faced Dargo. “You’ve already lost your daughter. I’d do anything to change that.”
Cyrus thought for a moment. “I won’t be responsible for taking Yuri too,” he said, this time more quietly.
The statement clearly had an impact on Dargo. The man looked unsure of himself. It was a mannerism Cyrus had never seen in him.
Cyrus glanced at Reese and could tell she didn’t understand what was happening here. She knew they were walking a fine line, but she didn’t understand the dynamic being shared.
“I’ve come to warn you,” Dargo said, cutting to the quick of the matter.
The phrase ‘no shit’ came instantly to mind, but Cyrus maintained his composure. He responded by only raising his eyebrows. The effect was equivalent. It brought a wide grin to Dargo’s face. It was the first real break in the tension.
“You have not changed very much,” Dargo chuckled. “Natasha once described you as quiet—stoic. I see this now.” He thought for a moment before adding, “She had much respect for you.”
Reese’s mouth dropped at the mention of Natasha. Her eyes went quickly to Cyrus and he tried to keep his attention on Dargo.
Cyrus didn’t know where Dargo was going with this, but he didn’t care to discuss the past—certainly not here or now.
Dargo slowly raised himself from the couch. The crackling of his weary bones was audible. He made a concerted effort to make his movements concise and deliberate. Cyrus felt Reese flinch at his side, but he wasn’t seeing anything threatening in the man’s behavior. If Dargo meant them harm, he would’ve arrived in force, and he certainly would’ve leveraged Cyrus’s fight with Yuri to gain an advantage in the situation.
Cyrus tucked the pistol in the holster behind his back.
Dargo nodded in appreciation and walked slowly closer to Cyrus and Reese. He stopped when he could get a better look at Yuri. “Still young and impulsive. Not good at following instructions. He wasn’t supposed to engage you in New York. He alerted you to our presence, no?”
Cyrus nodded. “You’ve had teams all over the place. I made a team in Santa Barbara a few days back. Then an outright attack on me in Chicago. I don’t suppose you’ll just come out with it and tell me what this is about?”
Again Dargo chuckled. “Actually, is why I am here. To warn you. You and your friends are in great danger.”
“I’ve noticed that. I’ve had you breathing down my neck, and a drug lord trying to skin me alive. Don’t tell me there’s someone else looking to take a chunk out of my ass?”
“Alvares? An unfortunate coincidence. My understanding is that you have retired him. Is no loss there.”
Cyrus didn’t bite. He waited for Dargo to continue.
“Fine,” Dargo said. It seemed he had decided to just say what he came to say. “My employer knows of your Meridian. He will do whatever is necessary to control the technology.”
Cyrus considered this. Now they were getting somewhere. “Tell me about it. The body count is stacking up. I need to know… Did you kill Walter Meade?”
This brought an audible gasp from Reese. Cyrus felt her grip tighten on his arm. Reese still thought that Meade’s death had been an act of God.
“Walter?” she whispered.
Dargo closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. “This was my predecessor,” he said sadly. “From what I understand, Comrade Meade was truly good man. He had grand visions for the future.”
The answer was a little too simple. Cyrus wasn’t willing to buy into the explanation quite so easily. “Predecessor?”
“Da,” the man said darkly. “Part of why I come here now. My employer wants Meridian, and he is not afraid to stack bodies, as you say, if it means getting what he desires. This includes all of you, but I suspect it will soon include myself and Yuri as well. Word is that he killed my predecessor after Comrade Meade died in his custody.
“Not a man to be trusted.”
“And you are?” Reese said, barely containing her contempt.
Her outrage wasn’t lost on Dargo. He considered her reaction, then bowed his head in contrition.
“So you’re not here out of concern for my team. You’ve got a problem with your employer, and you want me to fix it.”
Dargo laughed. “Nyet,” he said with confidence. “That I would take care of myself.”
The man grew silent as he thought about his words before he spoke. “Truth is, I harbored great hatred for you these years. Had you not left the Coalition, I would have tracked you down long ago. But you made good on the promise to leave that life after Natasha’s death.”
Cyrus wasn’t going to interrupt the man. What he had to say was a long time coming. But having this conversation in front of Reese wasn’t his first choice. He could feel her eyes on him. Not judging. But he was certain she had many questions. So much for sparing her his baggage.
“Then I took this contract,” Dargo continued. “And you show up. I thought your retirement a lie, a trick to save your skin. I was furious. But as operation progressed, that did not tally. You did not choose this. You were pulled back in. You can thank Professor Meade for this. He needed you to see his work through.”
There was no denying Dargo’s assessment. It was as correct as it could be. The man had troublingly accurate information. “I did leave the game. It wasn’t worth the price. And I never had any intention of coming back to this.”
Cyrus looked at Reese, and he couldn’t help but smile. His eyes fell back on Dargo. “But some things are more important than what I want. This isn’t about me. If you know about Meridian, you know what Meade was trying to do. This project can change the world. Meridian can make life better for everyone.”
Dargo considered this and nodded. “Da,” he said simply.
“So tell me, what does your employer want with the technology?”
The shrug of Dargo’s shoulders spoke volumes. He had clearly considered the question many times before. “I have no idea. He does not share such information. But whoever controls the technology stands to become wealthy beyond compare. Is not motive enough?”
That was Cyrus’s concern. The situation was unprecedented. There were any number of motives. Whoever controlled Meridian would potentially have the ability to force change on the world at core political and economic levels. The right person could do tremendous good. The wrong person could impose untold suffering. This was why Meridian had to remain a secret until the moment it was ready for deployment.
“The key to sorting this out will be in learning everything there is to know about your employer,” Cyrus offered.
Dargo pursed his lips. This idea clearly troubled him. “What you ask is unprofessional.”
Cyrus couldn’t help but laugh. He spread his arms to the house around him and looked at Yuri unconscious on the floor a few feet away. “No offense,” he said. “But that ship has sailed!”
Reluctantly, Dargo agreed with a simple nod of his head. All posturing aside, it was why he had come.
Cyrus scratched idly at his jaw as he considered the situation. “One more question.” He was looking at Yuri, still unconscious on the floor. “If you were here to talk, and you didn’t mean any harm, why’d you let him have at me?”
A chuckle came from Dargo. Cyrus could even see the amusement in the man’s eyes. Dargo smiled and slapped Cyrus on the shoulder as he walked by. The man headed for the kitchen. “Yuri has many unresolved feelings for you over the loss of his half-sister,” the man said over his shoulder. “It seemed a good opportunity to work through them.”
Dargo stopped walking and turned back to Cyrus. He regarded Yuri still on the floor. “Pe
rhaps a poor decision on my part. I do not think his feelings for you will have improved after today. So much for therapy!”
When Dargo’s gaze moved from Yuri and fell back on him, Cyrus would have sworn he saw approval in the man’s eyes. “You have not changed, Cyrus. You will see this through.”
Chapter 40
Berton Springs, Colorado
Friday, 6:05 pm
It had been a day Reese would never forget. Being taken hostage, only to see the situation reversed and have her captor and the hired muscle of their enemy, side with her protector. She still didn’t understand the conversation she’d overheard between them, but she was aware the two men had a complicated history. Cyrus was grateful for the intelligence Dargo provided, but Reese could tell he didn’t have absolute faith in the man. There was no doubt it was the reason Cyrus had chosen to personally escort Dargo, his son Yuri, and Dargo’s three man team off the mountain. They had arrived on snowmobiles, which had been abandoned further down the mountain before approaching the house on foot. Cyrus didn’t want to ask where they’d acquired the gear—Berton Springs didn’t have a place that rented that kind of equipment. Despite Dargo’s assurances that he intended his team no harm, Cyrus just wanted the men gone. He had admitted to being impressed by the way Hondo had disabled the men Dargo left guarding the teleportation platform. He’d taken them down without firing a shot, but judging by the men’s bruised and bloodied faces, they hadn’t gone down easy. Hondo, for his part, was no worse for the wear.
Hondo remained at the house with Reese, while Cyrus was away. After everything that happened, she was grateful for the company. The last week had been a roller-coaster ride in which she’d been taken hostage not once, but twice.
After scrubbing out the coffee pot, Reese filled the coffee maker with water and started it brewing. Hondo paced slowly across the kitchen. He hadn’t stopped moving since Cyrus had left with Dargo and his men.
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