by BWWM Club
“Okay,” he told her. “Start driving. At the third intersection make a right and head down the alley. When you get half-way down it, slow the car, I’m going to get out.”
Another car was slowly coming down the street; it had to be with the police.
“Won’t they see you get out?” she asked.
“Not if we’re fast enough and they’ll still think I’m in the car.”
“How is that supposed to work?” Monique asked him. She was moving down the alley, but she could see the car coming up behind her.
“Just give me fifteen minutes,” he instructed her. “It’s all I need to reach the dead drop. Circle back and pick me up.”
Deciding he knew more about this operation than her, Monique followed his directions and went down the main street. She waited till the last minute and made a quick turn down his alley. She slowed the car at the half-way point as instructed. A second before Rick opened the door to jump out; he reached back to the box and touched a switch. A spring was triggered and a perfect scarecrow of him popped up in the window from out of the box. Rick jumped out of the car, shut the door behind him and quickly ran to hide behind a pile of trash. The scarecrow would fool the unmarked police cruiser into thinking he was still in the car with Monique.
Mindful of the time, she circled around in the car, acting as if she was looking for an address. Monique slowed her car several times and sped back up as soon as the car following her came too close. Fifteen minutes later she was heading down the alley again with the tail still following at a distance. She saw Rick standing at one side of the building and slowed just long enough to let him in the car without the pursuit car seeing him. He pushed the scarecrow back into the box as he sat down. It made a click when it closed.
“Did you find your dead drop?” she asked him.
“I found it,” he told her. “But so did someone else. The super drive was stolen.”
“How can you be sure?” she asked him. “Maybe the cops found it.”
“No,” he spat out. “It had a cheap lock on it. The cops wouldn't have had any trouble unlocking it if they found it. The lock was busted open. I had the cheap lock on it to discourage anyone from getting into it who didn’t know what it was. Looks like it had the opposite effect.”
Chapter 4
“Maybe your people found it,” Monique speculated. She looked in the rear view mirror; the car was still following her.
“My contact had a spare key,” Rick explained. “He wouldn’t have had to bust the lock open. Somebody else has the drive. Now, I find out who they are and get it back.”
“So where do we go now?” Monique asked him.
“Let’s go back to your place,” he told her, “and try to come up with a plan.”
She turned the car and drove back down the street they were on. Her tail did the same and Rick scanned the sidewalks for anyone who might have been around the dead drop. He didn’t see a single one who was anywhere near it when he’d made the connection. The drop was in a brick on the outside of an old warehouse in a side alley. He’d used it multiple times while in St. Petersburg, but hadn’t noticed anyone lingering around the alley. He did spot a few people going in and out of the warehouse, but none of them were on the street. It was still early in the morning and the traffic was starting to accumulate.
Monique cruised by her apartment building and saw two cars parked out in front. At least five men in plain coats where standing around the car. When they saw her behind the wheel, one of them ducked inside the vestibule of the apartment.
“Oh, Christ,” she heard Rick swear. “Now we’ve got real problems.”
“What’s wrong?” Monique asked him. The men around the car weren’t trying to hide their interest in the car she was driving.
“I just picked up an SVR transmission on my ear receiver,” he explained. “Now we’re not dealing with the local boys, they’ve brought in the professionals. I’m going to give you directions to my hotel room; maybe they’re not over there yet.” Rick gave her instructions and Monique turned the car to a new course.
The hotel he was staying at was one of the big international ones near the center of the city. It had direct train service to the airport and catered to the foreign community in St. Petersburg. Monique maneuvered through the traffic which was building up in the street and soon found the car stuck in cars. Ahead loomed the hotel. Suddenly, Rick jerked forward and touched his left ear.
“Keep going, don’t stop,” he told her. “They’re at the hotel too.” He slammed a fist down on the dashboard, startling Monique. “Well, if this isn’t fine!”
“So what do I do now?” she asked him. The traffic was moving slowly due to the cars which were merging into the lanes from the hotel.
“Just keep driving around,” he instructed her. “I’ll have to think of something. My dead drop is compromised, your apartment is swarming with SVR and now they’ve broken into my hotel room. I have to get us away from here and get my super drive back. Is the car still following us?”
They drove down Nakhimova Street to reach the Nalichanaya highway across the Smolenka River. Having been built on a bay over a swamp, St. Petersburg was created at the intersection of several rivers. When driving around the city, it was always good to know if you were anywhere near a canal as they had a tendency to block your passage. Many cities are chopped up by rail lines, in Tsar Peter’s city; it had been divided by rivers and canals for centuries.
“I just had a thought,” Rick said to her. “There is a way to get in touch with my employers directly, but I’m going to need an Internet connection. It won’t take me long if I can find a café with access. But they won’t do much to help us get out unless I have the super drive. I know these people and what motivates them. We have the drive; they’ll have a reason to get us out of Russia in a hurry.” Rick began barking out directions to Monique and she did her best to follow them.
He looked behind them. The car following them was gone, but it would be back. The local police and the SVR had a million ways to track foreign spies in St. Petersburg. Right now they were taking their time. They had both of them bottled up and could take their time picking Rick and Monique up. They were in the process of going through all their possessions taken from the apartment and hotel room. Once they turned their attention back on the two fugitives, it would only take a few minutes to pick them up.
“We’re going back to the warehouse,” Rick explained. “The drive has to be there. One of the guys I used to see loitering around it probably saw me and figured out I was hiding something important. When we get there, pull up and let me go in. This should only take a few minutes.”
Rick seemed so calm to her, so self-assured. She’d never met a man like him before. She still couldn’t believe he’d provoked her into slapping him. She had wanted to stay in bed with him all day, even though their lives were in danger. She thought about feeling his hard erection on her thigh and was glad he wasn’t driving. Right now all she wanted to do was have him on top of her. If she could have reversed the flow of time and gone back to those few hours, Monique would have done it without hesitation. She wondered what he liked to do in bed. He didn’t seem the submissive type. Rick had to be the confidant one who enjoyed having his women on their stomach, butt in the air and naked when he entered the bedroom. She had a vision of him strolling up to her, whipping his cock out and saying: “kiss it!”
“I said the second left,” Rick was saying to her. “Did you hear me? It’s where the warehouse is located.”
Monique sped down the road toward the destination Rick gave her. The car she was driving, a Ford imported from Europe, made excellent time as she went through the traffic heading toward the warehouse. She turned and looked at him. Rick was calm; it was almost as if he’d done this countless times before. Maybe he had.
The palaces and museums of St. Petersburg were everywhere as a reminder of the city’s history. Monique had visited most of the better known ones during the time she’d lived
in the city. In the distance she could see the fortress which had been built to guard the approach of the river system. It was difficult to believe how big it was until you walked up to it. The fortress was the old Imperial Russian way of saying to the world: “here and no further”. This was far northern territory and the Russians had battled the Teutonic Knights for control of the Baltic States in this region. They were ready to do it again if you talked to them after a few drinks. Here was a land which had been over-run by the Mongol hordes and lived to tell about it. But St. Petersburg was Tsar Peter’s attempt to show the world he could create a European style city even in the far north and he didn’t care what it cost to do it. She had seen the bronze statue Katherine the Great had built to honor him. It was something to look at and remember he’d had his own son executed for working against him.
Monique pulled the car up to the curb next to the warehouse Rick pointed out to her. She put the car in park and shut off the engine.
“What now?” she asked him.
“I go in and get it,” he told her. “This shouldn’t take too long. You wait here.” He put one hand on the door and went to open it.
Monique climbed out of the car at the same time he did. Rick stopped and looked at her in confusion.
“I thought I told you to wait in the car for me,” he said to her.
“I’m coming along,” she told him. “I don’t know what you plan on doing in there, but I want to be around when it happens. I’m sick of being forced to ride along with you and not learn a thing. You’ll just have to include me in any plans you are making.”
He stared at her for a few seconds and shrugged his shoulders. “Okay, fine, but you will do as I say and follow my instructions. When I saw it’s time to go, we go. Do you understand?”
“Perfectly,” she said, giving him a cold stare.
“Then let’s go,” he ordered, walking in the direction of the door to the warehouse. Monique closed the car door and locked it behind her.
They pushed the double action doors open and stepped inside. The place was filthy and didn’t look like it had been cleaned in fifty years. The floor had a layer of grease on it and parts hung from the walls. There was a counter which was cluttered with all kinds of invoices and bills. The front of the warehouse was quiet, without much of the usual noise one might expect from such a place. Two men were behind the counter going over some paper work; both had cigarettes in their mouths, smoking nonstop. They glanced up when Rick stepped into the foyer and froze when they saw Monique behind him. Obviously, they weren’t used to seeing black people walk into their establishment.
“Did either of you two citizens find a small object near your warehouse?” Rick asked them in Russian. “It would be about five inches long and be made out of plastic. Someone took it from me the other day and I think they tried to hide it in the wall of your establishment.”
Both men appeared to have been dragged through a grease pit and drained out on a dirty towel. Engine oil was soaked into their skin and their hands were stained the color of walnuts. One was over six feet in height and had a shaved head. The other was much younger and had black shaggy hair. The older man snuffed out his cigarette and glared at Rick.
“Suppose we did, muchak,” he told Rick, using a slur term for “peasant”. “Why should we turn it over to you? Is there any kind of reward?”
“I’m willing to pay to get it back,” he told them. “Provided it’s intact. I can’t use it if it’s damaged. Is it in one piece?”
The man with the shaved head turned to his companion. “Go back there and tell Alexi I want the toy we found yesterday. If he asks why, tell him it’s none of his concern. I’ll buy his kid another one if it’s too much trouble.” The other man vanished through a door behind him.
There was no idle talk or chatter as they stood around and waited. The man with the shaved head went back to looking at his paperwork and didn’t make eye contact with either of them. Generations of being watched had taught Russians not to ask questions when you didn’t want the answers. Monique remained quiet with Rick and glanced around the walls. Some of the parts didn’t appear to have been moved in years. What the hell was going on behind them in that warehouse? Something illegal, she was willing to bet. Which would put everyone in the same boat. Soon the police and SVR would track them to this location and be asking these men all kinds of questions. They might even be forced to look into what was happening on the other side of the counter.
The door opened and the younger man came back with the super drive. Monique could tell this had to be it from the look of excitement on Rick’s face. It didn’t appear to be anything special: the drive resembled a small cylinder with attachments which could fit into the palm of your hand. It could have been mistaken for a video game player.
“He wants a PlayStation for his kid,” the younger man said in Russian to his boss. “And one of the new ones in a box. Unsealed.”
“He’ll be lucky not to get my boot up his ass,” the older man said to him as he turned the device over and looked at it. He turned his attention back to Rick and Monique. “What is this thing you are so desperate to get back?”
“A digital video recorder,” Rick told him. “It’s a new model. Someone borrowed it from me and left it in the wall outside. I’m anxious to get it back.” Rick counted out some money on the counter and let him examine the bills.
“It’s a lot of cash for a tiny machine,” the man with the shaved head observed. “I think you really want this machine back. I think you could afford a lot more than the pathetic sum you just dropped on my counter.”
“I’m not rich,” Rick stated, “but I do want it back.” He laid a few more bills on the counter.
“That is a lot more,” the man observed. “So I have to wonder why you want this little toy back so badly. Maybe I could sell it for a lot more than you are willing to pay? You think me some fool you can just walk in here and expect to get your little toy back? How do I really know it belongs to you?”
“Oh, this is absurd,” Monique snapped in English. The man looked at her funny and she stepped up to the counter and slapped one of the bundles of paper cash she’d found in her closet. She switched to Russian: “Here take some of this, it’s worth far less, but we need to get moving.” And she looked down. To her horror she realized the money she’d slapped on the counter was from the 1940’s.
“Where you get this?” the man asked. He picked up one of the bundles and stared at her. The other man picked one of them up and looked at it with wonder. They begin examining the money.
“I think something is very wrong here,” he told them. “Perhaps you tell me what is happening or I make a phone call. I don’t like to be played for a fool inside my own company.”
Before he could say another word, Rick had an automatic out and in the man’s face. The other man froze when he saw the barrel pointing two inches from the nose of the bald man and let the bill drop to the counter. Rick stepped forward and grabbed the super drive, shoving it in his pocket.
“Looks intact,” he said turning it over. “You two can keep the cash we just dropped.” He handed the gun to Monique. “Cover them, I’ve got to use the computer back here,” he told her in English. “I just told my comrade to shoot you in the balls if you move,” he said to them politely in Russian.
While Monique held the gun on them, Rick went behind the counter and used the computer. She couldn’t see what he was doing, but it didn’t take much time. He punched some keys, nodded, punched some more keys and frowned. He waited a few more minutes and tapped more keys. While she stood in silence she saw Rick’s face go solid. Whatever he was looking at was something unexpected. He walked out from behind the counter, and turned to the men as he retrieved the automatic from her.
“I thank you gentlemen for your help,” he said to them as he backed away with her to the door they had entered. “You can keep the money for all the trouble we have caused and are going to cause you. And by the way, you can tell the SVR w
hatever you want, but I would hide that old money.
They swiftly got inside the Ford and headed down the street.
“That was a stupid thing to do,” he told her. “Bringing out the old Rubles. You damn near got us killed in there. In the future, don’t make a move unless I tell you to.”
Monique had let him drive and was sitting in the passenger seat. “Sorry,” she said,” I took some initiative because I thought the guy was getting obstinate. I thought the extra cash would make him let us grab that device and go. I forgot it was old money. What did you learn when you were on the Internet? It didn’t take you long. Aren’t you afraid the SVR will trace whatever connection you made?”
“They can trace it all they want,” he told her. “The server is located in India and will be terminated in the next three minutes. The account was a special one I have for emergencies. Our situation qualifies as one.” He turned the wheel and made a quick, hard right onto a side street.
“What I learned,” he continued. “Is that it won’t be easy getting out of this place. The agency doesn’t want to soil its hands after the bomb went off yesterday and they will have to get us out on a new schedule. They want the super drive or we’d be left to find our own way out of the country.”
“So when and where are they picking us up?” Monique asked him. She checked her face in the rear view mirror and made sure no one was following them.
“It’s not the when which has me concerned,” he told her. “It’s the where. The damned agency wants to pick us up in Archangel.”
“Wait a minute,” Monique interjected. “That’s on the other side of the continent.”
“You got it right,” he said to her. “Near the Bering Sea. And only about a few thousand miles from here. No problem, they’ll be willing to wait till we contact them again. The train ride is going to be fun.”