Master

by Catherine Taylor

  And what did they want him for? Her grandfather had been KGB himself. Now he was just a businessman, and an old one at that, but already there had been attempts on his life. It was terrifying to think that Jahn’s mission might also be to kill him.

  Lena suddenly felt very tired. Approaching the chair at the computer, she sank down and once again looked around the room. She wanted to be wrong about everything. Jahn was a killer, but he had never taken innocent lives. He cared for people, and her grandfather was not an evil man. Whatever they thought he had done, they were wrong, and they couldn’t take him away from her. It was bad enough that she hadn’t been able to see him for so long.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by a flashing blue light near the front door. She hadn’t noticed the box with numbered buttons on her entry and now it was flashing. Whatever it meant, it was her cue to get out. Suddenly the rectangular box of the computer started humming and whirring and the monitor flickered to life.

  Lena jumped up in a panic, wondering whether she should do something when she saw letters magically run across the screen. She peered at them and read. ‘Unauthorized entry has been established. Enter the code.”

  “Code?” Lena wondered, as she addressed the screen. “I don’t know the code.”

  For a moment there was only a blinking curser but soon the letters began running again. “No code has been entered. Detonation will occur in 2.00. To abort, enter the code.”

  A digital timer appeared and Lena watched the seconds diminish.

  “What code?” she yelled at it. “What does detonation mean?”

  She knew what it meant in a normal sense, but was it something different for computers? Was she going to destroy his computer? Panicked, she began to push buttons on the keyboard to no avail.

  The letters ran. “Detonation will be in 1:30. To abort enter the code.”

  Another idea occurred to her and she followed the trail of cords, climbing under the desk until she had found a power source. She quickly flicked it off and heard the machine go silent. Gasping, she climbed out again, trembling and weak, leaning on the desk for support.

  Suddenly everything came back to life. “Power failure detected. Reserve power employed. Detonation will be in 0:30. To abort enter the code.”

  Falling down into the chair, she cried quietly. “I don’t know the code.”

  Now too weak with terror to move, she could only stare at the screen. It seemed that all her questions would go unanswered, but there was one last thing she was certain about. She was watching the final seconds of her life.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  He had stopped watching the time and concentrated solely on navigating the car at hellish speed through the shortest route, going the wrong way down roads and narrowly avoiding oncoming traffic. The moment he saw the building a block away, he sent the car over the reserve, driving straight through the wire fence to the road beyond, yanking the steering wheel to spin his side directly outside the door.

  Into the building, he leapt the flights of stairs, ignoring that small thought that he was about to be dead any moment. Reaching the final landing, he could see the door was ajar and burst it wide open. He held onto the frame for a breath, steadying himself, knowing he had one chance to get the code right. Four precise jabs with a trembling finger and the blue light switched off. Jahn sank to the floor, leaning his head back against the wall, still shaking from the adrenaline coursing through him.

  He was aware of her presence, but had lot more calming to do before he could bring himself to look at her. Thankfully, she kept her distance and remained silent. Any hiding he gave her now would be one he would seriously regret later.

  It took several minutes before his heart returned to a steady pace and he casually looked in her direction. Lena sat in the chair, staring down at the floor. Getting to his feet, Jahn slowly approached and took her hand. She offered no resistance, but was unsteady and trembling on her feet. He scooped her into his arms and carried her out, back to the apartment where he put her down onto the couch.

  Returning to the other apartment, he did a quick assessment of where she had been, noting the slightly open bottom drawer of his dresser and the different position of his uniform. It was fairly reasonable to assume she knew all there was to know. That was another complication that he hadn’t counted on.

  It was almost funny. In the last ten years he had come up against some dangerous adversaries and dealt with many situations that had put his life and identity at risk, all with a satisfactory outcome. In less than a week, Lena had turned his life inside out, had hung all his emotions out to dry, and had come very close to killing him. Now she knew him better than anyone.

  She had even turned his safeguards against him. The room had been breached and the building should have been lying in a pile of rubble, all his history destroyed and no trace of his existence. This had been the priority a few years before, when his only focus was self-preservation and a task to achieve, regardless of the casualties.

  Now it sickened him to think how close he had come to taking several innocent lives. Most of the tenants had gone, but a couple of drunks and a few of the boys still remained. He made a mental note that he would rectify that within the next few days.

  For now, he had to be ready to contend with Lena and the barrage of questions she would obviously have for him. At least it would be over, and this attachment she had for him would be broken. She probably despised him and that was good. It was the way it should have been.

  She had taught him a valuable lesson, the importance of keeping his distance. His mistakes were piling up, the biggest leaving that key in his pocket, instead of meticulously returning it to its place, which reminded him, it was still in Lena’s possession. It was time for this bullshit to end.

  Striding to the darkroom, he opened the door and saw the light had been left on. Glancing at the photos on the wall, Jahn shook his head and went to another corner of the room. Picking up the phone, he dialled a number.

  As soon it was answered he wasted no time on greetings. “You will have her back today. Be at that café in an hour and remember, if I even suspect you have company, it will be the last you see of her.”

  He hung up. It felt good to be decided. In a few days it would all be over and his failure to kill Makarov would have to be lived with. The old man would send people after him once they knew they had been betrayed, but they wouldn’t find him. It would take a few weeks before he could secure a new identity and passport, but then he would be gone.

  They were minor issues. The major one was waiting back in his apartment and in an hour that would be over too. A last check around and Jahn headed back to face the music.

  Lena finally looked at him as he quietly closed the door. “You shouldn’t have risked your own life to save mine.”

  Jahn shrugged. “I had plenty of time, at least twelve seconds before we all went up.”

  She shivered, but came straight to the point. “Why do you want to kill my grandfather?”

  “It doesn’t matter.” Jahn dropped down onto the couch next to her. “It’s over.”

  “Tell me,” she insisted.

  Still annoyed with her, it was tempting to tell her exactly what Makarov had done, but she had enough illusions shattered for one day.

  “It’s political,” he said. “Your grandfather is among a group of men, very rich men that are using their wealth and power to influence how the former states are run. They are draining the country of its assets, bringing in more foreign investors, buying up all the natural resources, stripping them down, selling them off, leaving thousands without jobs and income.”

  “Why are they doing that?”

  “For money.”

  “But that’s wrong.” Lena shook her head. “Why doesn’t the government stop them?”

  “A few of them are in the government. The Russian president is all for privatization and capitalism, and democracy should be part of that, but he demonstrated a totalitarian attitude at the last ele
ctions, shutting down the political parties and media that opposed him.”

  Lena was staring at him blankly.

  “He’s sucking up to the West,” Jahn grinned, “And they’re singing his praises, boosting his ego and making it easy to sell all the former states down the river, and these oligarchs are setting him up to be re-elected next year. Some of them have been assassinated, and a few of them have fled to the West, with massive fortunes, but their influence is far-reaching.”

  “And my grandfather is one of these oligarchs?”

  “He is.”

  “And your job is to kill him.”

  “My job was to hand him over alive to the leaders of a political group, who want to find out where his money is and encourage him to give it back.”

  “You mean torture him.” Lena remarked bitterly. “And what would they do once they had this money?”

  “They want to restore the former Soviet. They have a man, so they believe, that can do this once he is elected, but they need money to achieve this.”

  “But that’s just Russia. They have nothing to do with us now. We have our own Prime Minister, our own money. We are independent.”

  “Russia still has a lot of influence on Ukraine. The more money that can be retrieved, the more power that can be obtained, through bribes and influence. This party want to invest heavily in the military so that they will have the muscle behind their plan.”

  “That’s insane. The people would never stand for it.”

  “The people are unemployed. Many remember a system that wasn’t brilliant, but still kept their families clothed and fed. They have no love for men like your grandfather, who took their jobs away and left their children to starve.”

  “That’s when it all changed,” Lena said sadly.

  “How do you mean?”

  “Poppa,” she sighed. “He wasn’t always a bad man. There was a time when we were happy, even though we were incredibly poor. In those days, I was his little girl, and he loved me and Mama. It seemed the more things we got, the unhappier we were. Didi gave him the money for the restaurant and then there were always bad men around, and Mama was always crying.”

  “The restaurant was one of many businesses your grandfather used to launder money in the early days.”

  “I don’t know what that is, and I don’t care.” She gazed up at Jahn. “I want to know why you’re telling me it’s over, how your mission suddenly comes to an end.”

  Jahn breathed out deeply. “Do you really need to ask?”

  Lena gazed at him. “You don’t owe me anything. What you’ve already given me is more than I ever dreamed of. Whether it was real or just part of your job, you cared for me and that’s more than I’ve had in a very long time. When I thought that I was going to die, I was terrified, but then I remembered what we had done last night and this morning and I thought it was a good day to die.”

  Jahn stared down at his feet. “Go and tidy yourself up, Lena, and I will take you out. There’s a café that serves good coffee and Turkish baklava. You’ll love it.”

  “Food,” she smirked. “The solution to everything.”

  Getting up, she headed to the bedroom and turned to smile at him. “I’m glad that your mission is over. I don’t want Didi to be hurt, even if he is a bad man. Maybe one day he will understand that what he is doing is wrong. It would be awful to face death with regrets.”

  When she was gone, Jahn stretched out, leaning his head back on the couch, wanting to relax his body and mind. A knock at the door dictated otherwise and he sprang up. Glancing towards the bedroom, he quickly dropped to the floor, lifting the couch enough to reach under and retrieve the semi-automatic handgun hidden in the base.

  Keeping well to the side of the door, he called out, “Who is it?”

  “It’s Danil.”

  “What do you want?”

  There was a jingling sound. “I parked your car around the back. I didn’t think you’d want it sitting out there like that.”

  Tucking the gun into the back of jeans, he opened the door and peered at the youth and his keys. He grinned awkwardly and even felt a slight embarrassment that the car had not entered his thoughts. More mistakes.

  “Thank you. If you had taken it on a joy ride, I would have understood.”

  “I figured you were in a hurry,” Danil shrugged with a grin. “But yeah, we were going to, but you scare the shit out of us. You might want to have a look at it though. It’s sounding like it’s had a hiding and the wheel alignment is fucked.”

  “Yeah, it got a hiding alright.”

  “There’s something else too, Jahn.” Danil looked uncomfortable.

  “What?”

  “Skinheads are hanging around asking questions, but no one is saying anything. We wouldn’t do that to you.”

  Jahn frowned deeper. “You don’t fucking risk your life for me. I’m ugly enough to look after myself and I’m getting out in the next day or so. Danil, I want you to empty this building for me, get the boys out and those old bastards too. Demolition might be sooner than we expected.”

  He pulled out his wallet and extracted a wad of bills. “Take this and get them a month’s rent at that newer building down the road. I’ll give you more money later but do it today.”

  Danil pocketed the money and nodded. “They’ll be stoked, but the old bastards might put on a turn.”

  “Tell them there will be a week’s supply of vodka in their new home.”

  Danil laughed. “That will move them.” His mirth faded. “Are we saying goodbye, Jahn?”

  “It will be a spectacular goodbye, and then you can tell those skinheads anything you want, but in the meantime, you watch out for each other. These arseholes are fucking brutal and I don’t want one of you suffering for me. Is that clear?”

  “That’s a big ask, Jahn.” Danil beamed at him. “We’re going to miss having you around the place. You’ve been like some kind of mentor to us.”

  “Everything changes, whether we’re ready or not. That’s the first lesson in life.” He gave up a grin. “Thank you. Now go and get things moving.”

  He shut the door, only to find Lena standing there, smiling at him. She had put make-up on and tied a ribbon in her hair. He wasn’t sure what was unsettling him most; how pretty she looked, or the complete lack of distress. It was as if nothing had happened.

  “Are you ready to go?” he asked, as another thought occurred to him. “You should bring Greta with us.”

  Lena shook her head. “It’s best that she stays. She is safe here.”

  He would have to return the doll later. “Let’s go then.”

  On the way to the café, Lena was bright and chatty. “You know, you would have saved a lot of grief by just asking me where my grandfather was.”

  Her simplistic observation made him grin. “Yes, I can be such an idiot sometimes.”

  “It was better this way,” Lena decided. “Now we understand each other.”

  There was a conviction in her tone that made Jahn glance at her, and see that she was smiling.

  “Are we going to talk about what you found in that room?” he asked.

  Lena shrugged. “Only if you need to.”

  “It wasn’t me I was worried about.” He was flustered again, and had to calm his tone. “Do you want to ask anything?”

  “No,” she said firmly. “I just want to get on as we were, before I went into that room. Is that alright?”

  “You can’t keep ignoring reality, Lena.”

  “It won’t let me ignore it, but at the same time I can still create something I prefer, and that’s all the reality I need.”

  Jahn sighed, but he didn’t push it anymore. He felt bad enough that he was going to bring reality crashing down on her again. He just wished he had a little more conviction about it.

  They drove into the city and he eventually pulled the car over in a side street. Reaching behind to the back seat, he retrieved a pair of binoculars.

  “Wait here a moment,” he
told her as he opened his door. Once out, he turned and glared in at her, speaking his words precisely. “Don’t get out of the car.”

  “Don’t be so cranky,” she replied in the same manner.

  Gritting his teeth, he sighed and walked off. Lena watched as he walked under the rusty metal stairs of a fire escape and jumped up to take hold. As she had seen before, he pulled his body up until he was on them and ascending to the roof of a building, disappearing from her view.

  On his return, some twenty minutes later, he opened her door and held his hand out for her.

  Grasping it, she had to ask, “What were you doing?”

  “We’re meeting a friend of yours,” he replied. “I was just checking that he didn’t bring a few extra friends.”

  “Who is it?”

  “Andrei. He’s waiting at table outside the café.”

  Lena frowned, but said nothing as they wandered down the street, a cul-de-sac with the café at the end. There were tables spread out on the pavement and most of them were occupied. Waiters were in and out of the café weaving among the crowded tables and it was a lively atmosphere for a place shadowed by surrounding buildings.

  As they got nearer, Lena looked up at Jahn. “How do you know he hasn’t got men amongst all those people?”

  “Because I’ve made sure, and I know that Andrei wouldn’t risk your life.”

  Lena smirked. “Not that you would kill me.”

  “Yes, but he doesn’t know that, and this wouldn’t be the best place to start trouble. A lot of foreign journalists hang out here.”

  At a table to one side, Andrei was sitting clasping his hands, shaking his head at a waiter and waving him away. Lena smiled to see him and she watched as he caught her eye and jumped up. The last few steps she ran ahead and fell into his open arms.

  He hugged her tightly and held her at arm’s length. “Princess, look at you. You look incredible and where has this beautiful big smile come from.”