“It was certainly interesting,” his boss nodded. “All this actually reminds me of the old days. You would’ve made a good agent.”
Jake shook his head. “You know better than that boss. I’ve never been able to keep a secret.”
Back in the cafeteria, Jake found Katie and her grandmother conversing over the remains of two hot bowls of oatmeal and a plate of fruit.
“This place makes a mean omelet,” Jake said as he slipped in behind them, “and you two are eating hot cereal?”
“We’re watching our girlish figures,” Katie said reaching out to touch his arm. Jake sensed that she was relieved to see him again, though a bit nervous.
“I probably should be too,” he said with a prankish grin, “but I need some real food. Don’t know what it is about being with you, but I’m constantly hungry.”
“Too many distractions,” she smiled. “You really shouldn’t skip meals.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” he winked. “How are you Mrs. Petrovich? Need anything else?”
“I’m much better now. And no. I’m fine. Thank you.”
“Let me order and then I’ll run out and look for our taxi driver one more time.”
“Can I go with you?” Katie asked.
“As long as you behave yourself. I don’t want to be run out of Moscow too.”
“We’ll be right back, Baba,” she said. “Are you OK to stay here?”
“Yes,” her grandmother replied, looking up at the two young people standing closely together. “Yes, I am doing quite well.”
34
When Jake and Katie walked around to the back of the embassy, Baris’ taxi was still nowhere to be seen. Jake initially thought he had misunderstood their agreed meeting point, but walking the entire perimeter of the embassy complex once more, they still found no sign of their driver.
“Where do you think he could be?” Katie asked.
“You got me,” Jake shrugged. “At this point, I’m not even sure who the guy really is.”
“Or who he might be working for,” Katie added.
Jake nodded. “The thought had occurred to me, although he obviously meant us no harm. If he hadn’t shown up when he did, I hate to think what we would have been facing.”
“The name he mentioned, Stefan, you said he knows Baba.”
“On the list of interesting people I’ve met in the past week, present company excluded, he rises to the top. Stefan Abramov not only knew your grandmother, he was also friends with your grandfather and had traveled some with him.”
Katie shook her head. “To my knowledge, Baba has never mentioned his name.”
“Based on what he told me, she may not even know he’s still around.”
Katie gave him a puzzled look.
“He knew where you guys lived. That’s how I found you. But other than keeping an eye out for you and your grandmother, whatever that means, he said he had intentionally stayed away.”
“Why would he do that?”
“Stefan had been a political prisoner of the Soviet Union. And since he knew of your family’s problems, he felt that reestablishing a relationship with you and your grandmother would only compound them.”
“But the Soviet Union is dead,” Katie argued.
“Officially,” Jake acknowledged, “although I’m beginning to suspect that its ideology lives on in some of its former members.”
Brrrring! The ring tone of an antiquated rotary phone sounded from Katie’s cell. Reaching into her purse, she retrieved the phone and immediately recognized the number that was displayed on the front screen.
“Professor Kozlov,” she mouthed silently to Jake. “Hello.”
“Katrina, are you alright?” the concerned voice asked almost breathlessly.
“I am fine, Professor.”
“Are you still in St. Petersburg?”
An image of the police raiding the hotel entered her mind and she thought of what Jake had said about the ATM. Their enemies had connections to private things.
“I’d rather not say,” she replied.
Despite his inability to sometimes pick up on subtleties, the professor immediately understood.
“I need to speak with you most urgently. Where could we talk?”
“Do you remember the square where Tamara had that portrait made for you last year, the one that was done in charcoal when we were attending the endocrinology seminar?”
There was a pause on the other end. “I remember. It will take me some time to get there. Can you meet me tonight?”
“Yes, I’ll be there,” Katie assured him.
“Is your friend still with you?”
The question caught Katie off guard. “He is.”
“Bring him as well. I do not want you traveling alone. I will meet you at nine o’clock.”
35
The embassy safe house was clearly a carryover from the Cold War, but in recent years it had resurfaced. It was used as a convenient place for out-of-town embassy guests to stay when last minute reservations had been impossible to make. Because of Bill’s connections, two rooms were obtained with little effort. Although the accommodations were somewhat Spartan compared with the better hotels in Moscow, Jake and his two companions had barely noticed this. They found their rooms and slept soundly for the next several hours. Not wanting to miss their meeting in front of St. Basil’s Cathedral in Red Square, Jake and Katie had both set alarms.
Knock, knock. Jake tapped lightly on Katie’s door.
“Come in, Jake,” she replied. “Baba and I are both awake.”
Inside, he found them sitting across from each other at a small table. There was a pleasant aroma of hot tea in the air.
“Pull up a chair and join us,” Katie said.
Jake detected a matter-of-fact tone in her voice. “Mind if I have a cup of tea first?”
“Let me get it for you,” Katie’s grandmother offered.
“It’s OK,” Jake said. “I’ll get it.”
“The teapot is on the stove,” Katie replied.
When he rejoined them, he could tell that there was tension between the two women. Though nothing was being said, it was evident that he had interrupted a conversation that had come to a halt when he had joined them.
“Everything OK?” he asked.
“Baba was just about to tell me about our family history,” Katie said, “before those secrets cost us our lives.”
The older lady smiled awkwardly at Jake and then turned to her granddaughter. The wrinkles around her pale blue eyes tightened, transforming her tired expression into one of concern.
“Maybe I should come back later,” Jake suggested.
“No,” Baba replied softly. “Please stay. It is time for the truth to be told. There is obviously nothing I can do now to protect Katrina… or you.”
Jake took a seat beside Katie and glanced at her briefly as her grandmother appeared to be collecting her thoughts.
“My husband was the youngest of three brothers,” Baba began, “all born in St. Petersburg, Russia. Andrei was the oldest, a typical big brother. He was intelligent, responsible, and determined to carry on the family name with honor. Jaska, born a few years after him, was just the opposite. He was very handsome and also intelligent, but he was carefree and even reckless. Jaska was their father’s favorite, mostly because he excelled in athletics. If the Olympic Games had not been cancelled in 1916 because of the war, he would have competed in the track and field events. He was an excellent athlete. And then there was my husband, Dmitri, the baby of the family, born many years after his brothers. He always described himself as their pleasant, late-in-life surprise. Dmitri Petrovich was eighteen years older than I was. From the day I first laid eyes on him when he walked into that small church we attended, I was in love. What a handsome man, and what a wonderful man!”
“That was in Tomsk,” Katie recalled.
“Yes. After the communist takeover of Russia and later the defeat of the White Army in the Civil War, my family mo
ved as far east as possible to get away from the Bolshevik seat of power. We lived in a small farming community just outside of Tomsk where my father continued his work as a boat builder. Our home was on the Ob River, a truly beautiful place.”
“Was your husband from Tomsk?” Jake asked.
“No. Dmitri’s family had escaped to Western Europe before he was born. That was in 1916. His older brothers fought in the Great War—Andrei with the French Infantry on the Eastern Front and Jaska flying airplanes for the British. Jaska never returned, but Andrei went on to fight in the White Army against the communists. When the Bolsheviks succeeded, Andrei fled to Germany as did many of the White Russians.”
“Uncle Andrei was killed in World War II?”
“Yes, he was with the German army in North Africa. He, Dmitri, and their parents had been living in Munich.”
“So how did Dmitri end up in Asia?” Katie asked.
“His family had become very involved with the Confessing Church in Germany. They were a group of believers who opposed the Nazi Regime. Before they were executed by the Nazis, Dmitri’s parents managed to send him off to live with friends who worked at a mission in Nepal. That’s where Dmitri began his life’s work.”
“The Genesis Project,” Katie said flatly.
Her grandmother was taken aback briefly by her knowledge of the term but then nodded. “Yes, the Genesis Project. You obviously know about it?”
Katie shook her head. “Only the name. I found it in one of Dmitri’s textbooks.”
“Dmitri became an explorer throughout Asia. His easy mastery of language and love of foreign cultures allowed him to travel throughout Nepal, Tibet, and China. One thing he always carried with him was his love of God. He believed the Bible to be literal in every way and thought that if the world came to see it as he did, there would be a mass awakening of people finding their way to the God of the Bible. His quest began with Creation, hence the name Genesis Project. If he could refute the evolutionist’s teachings that had overtaken the academic world, Dmitri thought that he could reverse the process of people leaving the church. That’s how he became involved with the study of animal migration patterns.”
“He found something,” Katie said, “a frozen animal specimen.”
“Yes,” her grandmother replied, “but I don’t know what it was. He had returned to the Himalayas to search for more answers. Dmitri sent me a letter saying that he had solved the riddle, but he never came back. That’s pretty much where the story ends.”
“Until now,” Jake added.
“Until now,” Baba repeated.
“Mrs. Petrovich,” Jake said. “I met a man in St. Petersburg who knew you and your husband. His name is Stefan Abramov. Do you recognize the name?”
A look of shock came across the older lady’s face.
“What is it, Baba?” Katie asked.
“It’s not possible,” her grandmother replied. “Stefan died in a Soviet prison nearly thirty years ago. This must be an imposter. How old was he?”
“About your age I’d guess.”
Baba sat wide-eyed but didn’t respond. Katie shrugged at Jake as she scooted next to her grandmother and held her tightly.
“Mrs. Petrovich,” Jake said softly. “I’m really sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have brought this up.”
“Could he be an imposter?” Katie asked. “Oleg Volkov certainly had me fooled.”
“He seemed pretty genuine and he helped me find you. Stefan didn’t explain his reasons for staying away from you other than to say it was only out of fear for your safety.”
“Stefan Abramov was a treasure hunter,” Baba finally spoke, “but also a devout man like my husband. He lived in the Middle East for many years. His vivid stories about his travels and adventures were so colorful. Dmitri and Stefan met in a gulag in Siberia. That’s where they became such good friends. Dmitri’s passion was Old Testament paleontology. Stefan’s was biblical treasure. He had spent much of his youth searching for clues about some mysterious desert hermit who had once been a Crusader. That’s all he talked about.” Galina chuckled. “Dmitri was the scientist. Stefan was the treasure hunter.”
“I take it he wasn’t successful?” Katie posed.
“No,” her grandmother shook her head. “Treasure hunts too often lead to disappointment.”
“I have his number,” Jake said, “if you want to call him.”
“He may not want to talk to me,” the older lady replied.
“Why is that?” Katie asked.
“I broke his heart. In the years following Dmitri’s disappearance, he would come by the orphanage often to check on me. As you can imagine, I began to look forward to his visits and became very attached to him.”
“You fell in love,” Katie suggested.
“Yes, but I always hoped Dmitri would return. I could not commit to a relationship with Stefan until I was certain that my husband was dead. Stefan returned to St. Petersburg and was arrested not long afterwards. I tried to correspond with him in prison, but that was nearly impossible in the Soviet Union. Then I heard that he had died. I went through the same remorse that I had gone through with Dmitri.”
Baba began to cry so Katie pulled her closer.
“Mrs. Petrovich,” Jake said after giving them a moment alone, “I really think Stefan would like to hear from you. Since he’s been watching out for you and Katie all these years, there are obviously some strong feelings still there. Katie and I need to go out for a while. I’ll leave the number for you in case you decide to call him.”
Katie looked at her grandmother to gauge her response.
The older woman nodded. “It has been so many years.”
“Then don’t you think it’s time?” Katie smiled.
Baba nodded. “May I have the number, Jacob?”
36
A light snow was falling in Red Square as Jake parked the embassy car in the lot beside the public entrance to the Kremlin. A short distance away, he and Katie could see the onion domes of St. Basil’s Cathedral rising above the red brick walls that surrounded the square. From the glow of the intense halogen street lamps that illuminated the structure, the vibrant hues of the multicolored domes of the cathedral shone brightly against the night sky.
As they stepped from the car, neither of them noticed the dark sedan that eased into the parking lot behind them with its headlights off. The driver of the car watched as they pulled their coats around them and walked toward the square. Assured of their destination, he dropped the transmission into reverse and pulled back into traffic. A better vantage point for the kill would be from the wooded park across from the cathedral.
The wide cobblestones that formed the base of Red Square were lined on the left side by a row of evergreens, which framed the entrance to Lenin’s tomb. Free of charge, anyone interested in viewing the mummified remains of Russia’s first communist dictator could pass in solemn review around the glass encased sarcophagus. Behind the tomb were the graves of other Russian notables including Yuri Gagarin, the first person to travel into space. Jake recalled that on a previous trip to Moscow as part of a diplomatic mission to establish relations between TERA and the Russian Academy, he had walked the same path and had read the names from the grave markers. All of the former leaders of the Soviet Union were buried there.
“I think that’s him,” Katie said, motioning toward a lone figure who sat at the base of a statue in front of the cathedral.
As they approached, the man stood and walked toward them.
“Katrina,” the professor greeted with a relieved voice. He reached out and embraced her. “I have been so worried about you.”
“I’m OK, Dr. Kozlov,” she replied.
“Something terrible has happened at the museum,” he said. “Sergei Baranov was murdered. The police questioned me about it. They also asked if I had seen you yesterday.”
“What did you tell them?”
“I said that my new graduate student and I were working alone and that we had seen no
one else.”
“Have they questioned Kirill?”
“Not yet, but I have spoken with him. I made it clear that if he wanted a bright future in research, he would have to learn discretion.”
Katie smiled. “You told him to lie.”
“I didn’t know what else to do,” he said looking over at Jake. “I knew you couldn’t be involved in such a terrible thing as this, but…”
“Dr. Kozlov,” Katie spoke softly as she took the man’s hand. “Jake and I had nothing to do with Baranov’s murder. Sergei was a louse, but we would never have done such a thing.”
“I was at the museum last night,” Jake admitted, “but I was not alone. Whoever murdered Baranov tried to kill me as well. He apparently had some very bad friends.”
“He also tried to have me killed in Mongolia,” Katie added.
Their knowledge of what had happened should have been a surprise to the professor, but his face conveyed something quite different. Katie also noticed that her statement about the murder attempt in Mongolia didn’t elicit the response she’d expected either. The older man stood there as if collecting his thoughts.
“Tamara told me about Mongolia,” the professor finally spoke. Noting Katie’s expression, he held up his hand. “I know it was supposed to have been a secret between you two, but I asked her about it last night after the police called. I told her to tell me what was going on with you and asked her specifically if something had happened during your holiday.”
“Why during my holiday?” Katie asked pointedly.
“Because you told me that the trip had to do with your family history. I have known your family for a long time. It all started with your grandfather.”
“So I hear,” Katie replied flatly.
“He was a good man,” Kozlov said sincerely. “I didn’t know him very long, but I was impressed by his knowledge of zoology. He was onto some interesting clues about the relationships within vertebrate species, maybe all living creatures.”
The Genesis Conspiracy Page 18