The Vanishing Angle

by Linda Ladd

  The house was silent now, but he still led with his weapon. He started checking out the bedrooms, finding the little girl’s at the end of the hall. Sokolov was inside, sitting on the bed with the girl on his lap. She had both arms around his neck, as if she’d never let him go. He was rocking her back and forth. They were both crying, but Novak was more interested in who else might be inside that house. “Get her packed up and let’s get the hell out of here. We’re wasting too much time. I’m going to clear the bedrooms.”

  Novak moved down to the next room. It obviously belonged to the teenage boy. The walls were covered with posters of superheroes and sexy starlets posing in tiny bikinis. Of more interest to him was the glass bong in plain view on the bedside table. There was also evidence that the kid had been shooting up heroin. Remnants of weed and cocaine rested in bowls strewn around like candy dishes. Maybe he wasn’t a high schooler, after all. Maybe he was a dealer just like the other two were. Maybe he was Katerina’s guard. He searched the room and found more paraphernalia, along with supplies of weed, pills, every drug imaginable, a good portion already in small plastic bags and ready to sell. Maybe that’s how Petrov paid his couriers: free drugs they could deal to kids in the suburbs. More drugs were sitting out in the open inside the master bedroom. This was a pathetic family of criminals. He hoped the little girl had not suffered living there.

  “We’re ready now,” Sokolov said from out in the hallway.

  “Take her out to the car and be ready to go. I’m going to clean up a few things here first.” They fled down the steps and out the back door while Novak scooped up the glass bong and several bags of pills and headed downstairs. The man and woman had not moved. He placed more drugs and paraphernalia on the coffee table, then dropped some pills and weed on the carpet. Then he went to the hall, picked up Keith, and dragged him back. He dropped him face-first on the floor in front of the couch. The woman was small to have fought so hard. He picked her up and eased her down on the couch. He put the bong on her stomach. Neither of them appeared to be seriously injured—at least they were still breathing. They would have big problems when they woke up, especially when the cops that he was about to call showed up. He rubbed drug residue on their hands, and then wiped his fingerprints off everything he’d touched. Once he was satisfied, he washed his hands in the kitchen sink and left the front door slightly ajar before exiting out the back.

  As soon as Novak reached the car, he told Sokolov to get in the back seat with the kid. He took his place in the driver’s seat, started the motor, and pulled away from the curb. He didn’t gun it, didn’t speed away, but drove slowly and carefully. When he got about three blocks from the house, he pulled out the burner phone in his pocket. He dialed 911, tried to disguise his voice when he reported a violent home invasion at a known drug house. He gave them Keith’s address, telling them to hurry. Then he hung up, disabled the phone, and tossed it into bushes at the side of the road. After that, he drove away, keeping one eye on the rearview mirror. He didn’t breathe easy until he was back at the harbor where he’d left Sweet Sarah. So far, so good.

  Novak let Sokolov and the girl off on the beachfront, then parked the rental at the end of the lot. They took the Zodiac back out to the sailboat, and Novak felt a hell of a lot better when they were safely on board. Nobody was out on the beach. He heard no sirens, no cops pulling up behind him with flashing lights. They’d made it.

  Sokolov led Katerina below, his arm draped around her shoulders, holding her close. Novak followed them. He grabbed some blankets out of a locker and handed them to Sokolov as he led his daughter to the couch. They sat down together. Novak backed away and put on a pot of coffee in the galley. He fixed the girl some cookies and hot cocoa as he listened to Sokolov speaking softly to her in their native Russian. He felt better about their chances of getting away unscathed, but he was cautious enough to keep an eye on the porthole so he could get ahead of incoming trouble. The ocean and beach looked dark and deserted. He hated to subject the kid to more emotional stress right now, but he needed answers, and she was the only one who could give them to him. He poured out two mugs of coffee, filling the third with the cocoa and popping a marshmallow on top. He took them over, and sat down across from the little girl.

  Sokolov looked up at him. “I can never thank you enough, Novak. I can never repay you for helping me get Katerina out of there.”

  “I’m glad she’s okay. You need to get her out of here and take her to that convent where Irina is. Keep them both safe there until I contact you again. I can handle the rest of this on my own.”

  “What more will you do?”

  Novak watched the child. She wouldn’t look up at him, but kept her eyes downcast. Her hair was long, waist-length, dark and curly, and hung in a veil over her face. Her hands were trembling until she cupped them around her mug. She was not in good shape emotionally, but looked okay physically. What child would be okay after what she’d been through?

  “You know what I’m going to do,” he answered Sokolov. “I want Petrov. He won’t expect me anywhere near the compound in Nantucket. He’ll think nobody knows about it.”

  “You need help to do that. Let me take Katerina up there and come back.”

  “No, no, Papa, please don’t leave me.” The child became distraught at once.

  “Listen to your daughter. She’s the one who needs you.” Novak hesitated. The girl relaxed again, and Novak watched her take a delicate sip of the chocolate. She ended up with marshmallow on her nose. She wiped it off with her hand.

  “I need to ask you some questions, Katerina. Will you talk to me for a minute?”

  That caused her to tense up. She almost spilled the chocolate. She steadied it again and answered him, avoiding looking him in the eye. When she spoke, it was in heavily accented English. “What if they find me again? Bobby told me they’d kill me if I ever tried to get away. He said they’d kill my mama and papa and everybody else in my family.”

  Novak assumed Bobby was the teenager. “They won’t find you. Your Papa is taking you far away before daylight. Just tell me a few things that I need to know and you can go with him right now. Please, I need your help to get these people who took you away from your family. I want them in prison, where they can never hurt you or any other little girl again.”

  She raised her lashes. They were long and black and revealed the most captivating blue eyes. She was a beautiful child. That’s why Blackwood had targeted her on that Moscow street. Her gaze was troubled now, and her mouth quivered, but she nodded assent.

  “Okay, we already know those people you lived with pick up drugs when you go out on the ocean in the boat. Are you aware of that?”

  She shook her head. “We go to the ocean sometimes, but I thought it was just to swim and have a picnic.” She looked down again. “But I do know about the drugs—Keith and Kate and Bobby smoke them all the time. They take lots of those pills. They make me stay in my room, but they never hurt me.” She got quiet again. “Are they dead now?”

  “No. They were trying to stop your father from taking you home, so I had to do something. They’ll be all right when they wake up,” he assured her.

  “What about that old man who had me first? I won’t have to go back there ever again, will I?”

  “No, never. You’ll never see him again.”

  Sokolov hugged his daughter closer. Novak waited, then gentled his voice. “You need to tell us everything you know about those people you lived with. And the people they were friends with. Did other families come to visit at your house?”

  “Nobody ever came there. Except people who wanted to buy those pills and things. They came to the back door, and Bobby sold them what they wanted, I think. None of the people in the boats came to our house.” She took another sip and nibbled on a vanilla wafer.

  “Okay, did you hear any names when you were out there on the ocean? Did they call each other anything?”
<
br />   She nodded. “Yes, sometimes we met a family named Monroe. They were nice. They laughed a lot.” Her fearful gaze lifted and latched onto his face. “You won’t hurt them, will you?”

  Novak couldn’t promise that. They weren’t the major attraction as far as he was concerned, but they were still going to end up in jail. He didn’t answer. “Do you know where they live?”

  “We went to their house one time. It took a long time to go there.”

  “Where was it? Do you remember the address or the street, or what town it was?”

  “It was in Savannah. The street’s name was Brown Pelican Drive. I remember because I saw one of those birds sitting on the pier right before we left. They fly in a big long line right over the water sometimes.”

  “Do you remember anybody else?”

  She considered the question thoughtfully. “I remember visiting the beach at this pretty house. I played in the pool with Bobby and Kate. She asked me to call her mommy, but I never did. She’s not my mommy. She slapped me once for talking too loud when we were waiting for Keith to meet somebody out on the beach.”

  “Do you know who that was?”

  “No. He made us stay inside the car and walked down the beach all alone in the dark. It was the same beach where we swam. I saw a boat out on the water, but I couldn’t see Keith anymore. It was too dark.”

  “Okay, you’re really helping us, sweetheart. What else do you remember about the people they met?”

  For almost fifteen minutes, she told them stories of driving out to the beach at night, about taking motorboats out on the water where they swam and fished and had picnic lunches with other families. Petrov’s system operated like clockwork, well-oiled and efficient. And Katerina had been with this family for over a year. They had moved lots of opioids and heroin in that time period. Novak jotted down names and incidents on a notepad. Katerina was going to be a prize witness when this thing went to court. He hoped she could hold up to testifying, but he wasn’t sure she could. He hoped Sokolov would allow her to stay in the country, but he wasn’t counting on that, either. Her father was going to want to take her as far away as he could get her.

  “You’ve been a big help, Katerina. Finish your cocoa and let me talk to your daddy a minute, okay?”

  Once they stepped aside and huddled together in the galley, Novak lowered his voice. “You need to take her and get out of here tonight. Take the rental car and hide out with the two girls at that convent, or whatever it is. Make sure they both stay healthy. You got that?”

  “Yes, but I warn you, my friend, don’t try to take Petrov alone. Do not do that. Not without backup. He’s a monster, a cold and deadly killer. He likes hurting people, and he’s good at it. He uses an icepick in the eye or at the base of the skull. Just so it penetrates the brain.”

  “I know what he is.”

  Sokolov glanced at his daughter. His face softened. “She’s going to be okay, I think. Thank God.”

  “Get her out of here before something goes wrong or somebody shows up and tries to stop you. I’m heading to Nantucket now.”

  “He’ll be up there eventually. He likes it there. He might have his own place, but I’m not sure about that. He went off alone a lot when we were there last time. He’s got another safe house in Quebec, in case he has to flee the country. He’s got everything planned out for any eventuality. He’s always been like that, a planner.”

  “Yeah, figures. But this time everything is coming down around his ears. Now get going before somebody shows up. I’ll take you in on the Zodiac. Drive all night. This thing is far-reaching, and they’ll bail out Keith and the woman as soon as they know they’re in jail. Let’s go.”

  Novak took them to shore and watched them drive off. When their taillights faded in the distance, he took the Zodiac back out to Sweet Sarah, pulled the rubber boat aboard and stowed it in place, then pulled anchor and set his course north to Nantucket Island.

  Chapter 22

  Novak grabbed up the sat phone on the first ring, eager to talk to Lori and make sure she was okay. He also wanted to know what she’d found out. “Lori, where in the hell have you been? I’ve been trying to call you.”

  At the other end of the line, he heard her amused laugh. “Wow, you really did miss me, huh?”

  “You were supposed to call me when you got to Ronald Reagan Airport in D.C. It’s been three days. I get nervous when I don’t hear from you, especially when I know dangerous men are out there trying to kill you.”

  “Chill, baby. I’m fine. My boss listened to me, looked at the evidence we’ve gathered so far. He’s completely on board with presenting it to his superiors and taking down this whole thing, lock, stock, and barrel. He’s as excited as we are.”

  Novak felt his body relax. “Good, good news. What’s next on your end?”

  “He’s got to get approval and signatures from just about everybody at the Pentagon and beyond. It’s going to happen, though. Everybody up here has been screaming about the opioid epidemic. We’ll end up heroes if this comes off well.”

  “Are you okay? Any more headaches?”

  “You know I’m fine, but thanks for asking.”

  “Anybody try to give you trouble?”

  “No, the flight up here was uneventful. A military jeep picked me up at the airport with an armed guard in the front seat. What about you? Are they coming after you?”

  “Not yet, but it’s going to happen eventually.”

  “Where are you now?”

  “Sailing north to Nantucket as fast as the winds will carry me. Luckily, they’re brisk and steady, and the weather’s been fair so far.”

  “Will it hold up, though? It’s storming like crazy outside my office window.”

  “So far. Blue skies dead ahead.”

  “You could dock somewhere and take a flight. Faster and easier, I’d say.”

  “They might be watching the airports. I can’t take chances right now. I can control what happens while I’m on this boat. It’s going to take days for you to put the bust together, right?”

  “Yes. You should have time to get there if the weather holds. What about the Nantucket ferries from the mainland? Couldn’t you go in that way if you flew out there?”

  “They’d be stupid not to have somebody watching who lands out on Nantucket. I would be, if I were them. If that’s their major point of distribution as Sokolov says, there are a lot of drugs storehoused somewhere on that island. He says they’ve got several buildings in Blackwood’s compound. I’m going to find out what’s inside them. Did you dig up those addresses and the other things I asked for?”

  “Yes, believe it or not, his places are not cloaked in official secrecy. He must feel perfectly invincible. Who could blame him with his credentials? He’s got houses all over the place, sticking to the story that he’s a real estate investor. Who could say different? As far as Nantucket, he’s got a big compound on the north shore. It’s off by itself, and the images I’ve got show me it’s up on a rise above the beach on Nantucket Sound. Not a cliff, really, but a grassy slope with shrubs and some trees that can give you cover if you have to go in that way. There’s a cluster of houses just down the beach, sort of a little village almost. Blackwood’s place has got a boardwalk along the top and steps down to the water. There’s this dock sort of thing, too, but it’s not very big. I can text you the GPS and some Google aerial shots of the layout, as well as some tourist photos I found.”

  “You’re nothing but a genius, Lori.”

  “You need to remember that and praise me more often.”

  “I prefer to praise you in other ways.”

  “Me, too, now that you mention it. We just can’t seem to get around to that, not when you go to steakhouses.”

  “We’ll make up time. That’s a promise.” Novak meant it. He owed Lori a nice vacation, wherever she wanted to go. She was spend
ing her time off gathering information for him instead of having the nice romantic getaway they’d planned.

  “Yes, sir, you certainly will.”

  “It’s a date. Okay, send me the pictures and maps. I’ve still got a long way to go. Will that mess up your end of things? Is the takedown going to be a simultaneous one?”

  “Yeah, but you know how slowly the Pentagon works. We’re going to have to cut through a hundred miles of red tape before we get the go-ahead. My boss is gung-ho and ready to move on this thing. In fact, you might be right about that promotion if things go according to plan. Still, he’s got to get everything sanctioned and lined up to strike all at once. But he’s good at those kinds of maneuvers. He wants to take everybody along the pipeline at the same time, or as close as we can. That means I’m lining up proper law enforcement agencies in every jurisdiction. It’s not going to be easy, and I’ll be surprised if something doesn’t leak or go wrong. If it does and they burrow in their holes, we’re done for.”

  “How long before they think they can put it together? I’ve got to have time to get there and evaluate their set up.”

  “You’ll have it. I’m only halfway through figuring out who has jurisdiction at these places. We’ve got to get all the local law enforcement agencies on board, but they will be a source of leaks, too.”

  “Have you pinned down each stop?”

  “I’m running all the names and photos we’ve got so far through all our criminal databases, but I think most of his people are working under aliases. They’d be stupid not to, and these guys aren’t shortsighted for as long as this has been going on. We still might get some matches on facial recognition with former Russian operatives and see if any of them are still skulking around in the U.S.”