by Tom Haase
Dmitri hated to be threatened by anyone, and especially by this buffoon, who couldn’t even do his own dirty work.
“It will be done,” he said and hung up.
Dmitri took a few seconds to contemplate his next move. Unbeknownst to the caller, he knew the caller’s true identity. At that moment, he determined that Mr. Robocop needed to be eliminated.
In the end he thought it best to go to America and kill the man who had murdered his kin, and he would throw in the other buffoon for good measure. Since he knew who had contracted him for the hit on Bridget, Matt, and Scott, he decided to silence the man as protection for himself. He possessed the means and the will to get them both accomplished.
He looked at his security man standing inside the door of his office. This man had protected Dmitri for years and went everywhere with his boss. “Andreas, pack your bags. We are off to America today. We’ll take my jet.”
* * *
Schultz hung up the phone after talking to Dmitri. He clenched his fist and pounded it into his left hand again and again. This had to end, and soon. He let his mind go back over the things he had done to see if he had done something wrong.
His interest in the Donavans had all started when he’d learned that Bridget Donavan had let his son die while on a combat operation in the Middle East. True, he’d later heard that she might not have been solely to blame, but in his mind, she remained responsible for the death of his son.
During a subsequent episode, Scott and Bridget had sought to acquire the Bible of Constantine. Bridget had saved his life in this encounter, but then ripped him off for five million immediately afterward. This still left a bad taste in his mouth.
Due to some unforeseen circumstances, Matt and Scott had fortunately escaped Italy and later Russia without a scratch. In both places, they’d suffered attacks on their lives that he’d orchestrated.
Then his thoughts turned to his precious Gertrude, who would give him a grandchild. He’d never thought she would marry, but now she seemed to be on the track he had always planned for her, and she would soon take over the running of the business. She had a mind that mirrored his in almost all respects. He could see himself in her, and in time she would also. She had the same dominant streak in her character that he did.
The need for his personal action in this matter appeared to be approaching. He no longer could sit on the sidelines and attempt to allow others to do his bidding. The time had arrived for him to do some things for himself.
39
Tasha’s Safe House
Scott arrived at Tasha’s location, where he knocked on the door and waited for her to open it. When she did, she stared at this man she had not seen before.
“Tasha, my name is Scott Donavan. I work with Matt Higgins, who sent me here to take you to a different safe place. Pack your bags—we’ve learned that someone has probably discovered this location and is coming to kidnap you. Please hurry, and I’ll wait for you.”
“Yes, Matt called, and I started packing immediately. Let me run upstairs and finish. I fear I have a lot of stuff, especially books,” Tasha said. She left the door open and ran to her bedroom. In about four minutes she returned carrying one suitcase and set it down near the door.
“Scott, could you go up and bring down my other suitcase? I really can’t pick the thing up with all the books.”
“Can do, but I want to give you this cell. It’s a phone that’s connected directly to Matt and myself, and we use it for our internal personal communication. It has encryption on, so you don’t need to worry about what’s being said when you talk to us. Please put it in a safe place.”
“No need, I already have an iPhone.” She pulled it out of her purse and showed him.
“I understand, but this is a separate means of communication, so please stash it somewhere and we will use it to communicate with you, and you with us.”
“Sure,” she said. She went over to her suitcase and placed the phone into it, replacing her iPhone into her purse.
Scott ran up to the second floor, where he saw the suitcase inside the bedroom door. He went over to pick it up. As he raised the bag off the floor, the contents spilled out.
“Damn,” he said. He bent over and started placing the items back in. Most of these were books, and he eventually got them all back in and then zipped the suitcase up. He lifted it up and at the same moment he heard the screech of tires outside. Forgetting about the heavy suitcase, he rushed for the stairs.
“Tasha,” he screamed.
He reached the bottom of the steps and didn’t see Tasha’s suitcase, but worse, he didn’t see Tasha. He raced over to the door and looked up and down the street. A car sped away and disappeared around the corner before he even got a good look at it.
“Damn, damn, damn,” he shouted as he grabbed for his phone.
* * *
“Scott, slow down,” Matt ordered as Scott spewed forth information so fast he couldn’t make heads or tails of the man’s blabbering. “Tell me what happened. Take it easy.”
Matt put him on speaker so Gerti could hear. He had joined her at the safe house. Scott spoke again in a much more coherent manner and ended with the car disappearing around the nearby corner.
“I should have thought about it earlier. As soon as you told me that Father knew about Tasha, I knew his most likely move consisted in grabbing her to get at Dmitri, since he still believes that man had me as a target of the assassin,” Gerti said.
“I got here as fast as I could,” Scott said.
“No one’s blaming you. We need to regroup and figure out how to save that innocent girl. Gerti, any ideas where he might take her?” Matt asked.
“No, because Father hasn’t fulfilled his promise to fill me in on all the things in the company that I’m not aware of. I’ll call him to see if I can find out anything.”
“Don’t waste your time. He won’t tell you anything now that he’s taken her,” Scott offered.
“Wait a minute,” Gerti said. “I got a text from Father. He’s coming here this afternoon. He doesn’t say why, but I bet it has to do with the girl. He wants to be here to use her to get Dmitri.”
“I bet it is,” Matt said.
“Scott, come back and pick me up. I want to be with you from now on. I’m sick of this prison I’m in. It’s time we aren’t separated anymore.”
“On the way, but be careful. We don’t know what those guys’ instructions are.”
Liz’s number appeared on Matt’s cell, and he realized she must need to talk with him. He told them he needed to take the call.
“Liz, I got bad news.”
“You go first,” she said.
“We think Schultz has kidnapped Dmitri’s daughter.”
“How the hell did that happen?” she asked.
Matt told her what they knew and what they suspected. He finished with, “What do you have for me?”
“Last night, Dmitri Alexandrovitch arrived in the United States.”
40
Dmitri’s Arrival
Dmitri’s Gulfstream 650 had arrived in Teterboro, New Jersey, where it cleared customs and refueled. After that, it flew on to Manassas Regional Airport in Virginia. The plane touched down amid clear skies and a mild temperature. The tower directed the plane to a remote section of the field with what looked like an abandoned old building that might have been the previous space of the FBO (fixed base operations). An access road wound its way to the border fence with a small gate allowing entry with a card swipe.
Dmitri met with the provided driver, Yuri, as soon as his jet landed near Washington, D.C. Yuri, in his early twenties, sported long black hair, with tattoos showing above his shirt collar. The man drove the black SUV, which took Dmitri and his personal bodyguard, Andreas, to the Hilton Hotel. He liked to take a rest after any long flight. Yuri drove them to downtown D.C. In the morning, he delivered them to the address that Dmitri provided.
Dmitri decided the time had arrived to visit the man called Karim and
get the information on who had actually killed his nephew. He checked his briefcase, inside which the bribe money rested. He didn’t really plan on giving a snitch that much cash, but he would if it became necessary. He placed a call to Karim.
“Are you the man who will tell me who killed my nephew?”
“If you are the man who has my five hundred thousand, then I am he.”
“See you soon.” Dmitri ended the call and placed another call to Yuri’s boss. This man’s family had been friends of his family from his early childhood. The man he called had left Russia as a young man, with Dmitri’s father’s help, to set up a new branch of the family business in America.
“Hello, Artur. I believe your father told you I would be contacting you,” Dmitri said.
“”Yes, he did. It is a pleasure to hear from you, Dmitri Alexandrovitch. What can I do for you?”
“I will need five to eight well-trained men. Is that a problem?” He heard the negative reply and said, “I’ll call you in an hour and tell you the target and the location. There will be additional instructions. Altogether it will be one, maybe two days’ work. Text me your expenses and you’ll be compensated before we begin.”
“Pleasure to do business with you. No problem, they will be available on your call,” Artur responded and ended the connection.
Dmitri waited only a few seconds before the bill arrived, and he transferred the money immediately. He sat back and relaxed with a smile on his face.
His first aim would be obtaining the name from this Karim, and the next would be Schultz. They would both be dead before he left to return home, maybe even later today.
* * *
Matt answered the phone call from Karim, who had been told to call Liz on duty near his location if anything happened.
“Why are you calling me?” were the first words out of his mouth when he answered.
“Listen. He’s on his way here. He said he would be here soon.”
“I’m on my way. Hang up and call Liz,” Matt ordered.
“No, wait. I need to tell you something.”
“What?”
“I’m afraid he will kill me if he gets here first.”
“Why?”
“Well, I called the number to tell him I really knew who killed his nephew. I failed to tell you he offered me five hundred thousand dollars. I now realize he would never pay that kind of money to a snitch, so I’m dead,” Karim said.
“You son of a bitch. So, you were going to use the cash to escape and set yourself up in a new life. Now, it looks like someone will solve my problem for me.”
“Please, Matt, he’ll kill me for sure. You gotta help.”
Matt hung up the phone and called Liz. He would be there in ten minutes. She was already there observing Karim. The little weasel had really done it this time. Matt believed what the man had said. After Dmitri got the name, he would, without reservation, kill the informant. There would be no reason to leave a loose end around who could obtain some favors by contacting the FBI or locals and ratting out a Russian crime lord visiting the USA. That couldn’t be allowed, so Karim had to go.
He looked at his phone, which gave an unusual sound. The call came from the cloned one that Tasha had. Matt thought that if they took her, they would certainly have taken her phone. Maybe one of the kidnappers used it. He picked it up to listen to the conversation. He soon found out that she had dialed her father.
“Hello, Papa,” she said.
41
Tasha Kidnapped
“Tasha, where are you? I’ve been so worried. Are you all right?” Dmitri couldn’t see it, but before she answered, Tasha covered her face with a blanket to mask her voice.
“No, Papa. I’ve been kidnapped. I believe they work for a man named Schultz, as that’s the name I heard the guard say on the phone to someone he reported to. I had forgotten about having this phone that I put in my suitcase. They didn’t search it, only my purse. They took my iPhone when they grabbed me. I’ve been too scared to do anything until now. They locked me in this room on the second floor. There are two guards in the house. I looked out the window and didn’t see anyone walking around outside. It’s too steep to jump out. I’d break a leg.”
Dmitri almost crushed the instrument in his hands. He would kill the bastard for this attack on his family. He told himself to calm down. The first priority was to get his daughter back. Two men, Yuri and Andreas, his personal bodyguard, accompanied him, but Artur remained on contract. Best to employ local assets to do the heavy work. He would be there to rescue his daughter.
“Where are you?” he asked.
“Wait a minute. I think I can use this phone to get my location.” In a second she came back. “Got it.” She gave him the address of her location. He wrote it down in a notebook from his pocket and tore out the page. He handed to the driver and said, “Take me there.”
The driver nodded and retrieved the paper. Dmitri called Artur to request the three reinforcements he believed would be required for retrieving his daughter. That gave him four shooters, three from Artur and his own security man, Andreas, with the driver staying in the car.
“How long?” he asked Artur.
“Thirty minutes.”
* * *
Matt looked at the location on his GPS. He could be there in less than ten minutes. He didn’t know how far away Dmitri was, but he needed to get the girl free immediately in case Schultz did something stupid. He had no backup here, and taking on Dmitri in an open fight wasn’t in his best interest. If he could get the girl, then he would have a chip to play in the game. He needed personal access to Dmitri to find out the answers to his questions.
Since Dmitri didn’t know who had shot his nephew, it didn’t make sense that he had put a contract out on them on his own. He must be doing the job for someone else. That someone would be the end of the line, the target of his vengeance. He now knew that he needed Dmitri to provide the last piece of the puzzle.
With Dmitri this close, having the girl would give him the upper hand. He would make sure the daughter remained safe in his custody as soon as he could get her away from her captors.
“Yes, Matt. What do you need?” Scott asked on answering Matt’s call.
“I have the girl’s location. She called her father and gave it to him. That cloned phone she has is slaved to mine and I heard it all. He’s on his way to her now, but I’m ahead of him. I plan on getting to her first. When I do, I need you and Gerti to help me with her. I’ll bring her to the new safe house.”
“We’ll be there. Anything else?”
“Not now.”
42
Tasha’s Rescue
Matt raced to the girl’s location. When he saw the house, he realized there was no easy way to sneak up on it. The building stood on a half-acre lot with a manicured lawn extending from the house in all directions. Anyone approaching would be seen by a guard in front or back of the house. He concluded that if these were Schultz’s men inside, they were fair game since they had kidnapped the Russian girl.
On looking around from inside the car, he observed an elderly lady slowly walking her dog down the street. She would pass directly in front to the house on her present course. If these guards had been here last night and this morning, they would have seen the woman previously and probably wouldn’t give her or the dog a second glance.
Matt jumped from the car. He had parked it about three hundred feet from the property and under a tree, where it should be out of sight of anyone looking out of the house. He hurried to catch up with the lady, who walked her dachshund on a pink leash.
“Excuse me, ma’am. I can’t help but notice that your dachshund is well behaved.”
The elderly woman slowed her pace and looked at Matt, but continued on her stroll. She wore a blue Georgetown sweatshirt with matching sweatpants. Her feet were adorned with pink tennis shoes.
“Thank you, young man. She’s old like me, so we walk rather slowly.” He walked beside her now and they proceeded to
pass along the sidewalk that ran directly in front of the house. “Haven’t seen you around here before. Where are you from?”
“I’m going to visit this house right here,” Matt said as they approached the walk leading up to the front of the house. In the window he observed a man watching them, but after seeing the old lady, the watcher turned away. Matt assumed the man had lowered his guard at the sight of the old lady, as he’d hoped.
“Nice talking to you,” Matt said. He smiled at her and gave a slight wave as he turned and ran at full speed toward the door.
As he approached, he pulled his Glock, immediately firing at the lock on the door. He plowed into the door and it gave way. He dove low, and off to his side, he noticed the man from the window was caught by surprise. In the few seconds it took for him to reach for his gun, Matt put two rounds into his head. No question of surviving that.
He heard a name being called from upstairs. Matt guessed it belonged to the dead man. Since he had never heard the man say anything, he couldn’t try to imitate him with pain in his voice as if he’d been wounded. A deception he used on some occasions, but not for this situation. So he coughed loudly and moaned like a wounded man might.
“Hang on, Bill,” the man said as he ran down the steps. Matt realized these guys were definitely the second string. No trained operative would ever allow him to get away with crashing the door, because he should have been stopped long before reaching it.
Matt heard the creaking of the stairs and concluded that the man coming down weighed a good amount from the pounding he inflicted on the steps. Matt moved with speed to place himself beside the living room wall, which would cover his presence while allowing the man descending the steps to see his fallen comrade as soon as he entered.