The streets were crowded and she was nowhere to be seen. The way she had been limping, he knew she couldn’t have gone far. There was a clothing store across the street and behind that a public park. The park was crowded, but his bet was on the store.
Rachel had entered the store as soon as she left the bar. She picked a blouse and pants off the rack, hoping it was close to her size, grabbed an oversized sun hat from another rack, and pushed her way to the front of a checkout line. She dropped a wad of cash on the counter and not even stopping to wait for change, made her way to the restroom in the back of the store. Before she entered the restroom, she glanced in a mirror near a rack of clothes and saw her pursuer from the bar enter the store. She could only hope he hadn’t seen her enter the restroom.
She ripped the tags off the new clothes and changed as fast as she could, putting her hair up in the hat, and taking a glance in the mirror. The change was just enough that she might slip out without being recognized, if only she could manage to walk normally.
She put her old clothes in the trash bin and stole a glance out the restroom door before exiting. The man was on the other side of the store, trying to look like a casual shopper, but checking every customer hoping to find her. She adopted a casual air as well, browsing several racks of clothes, making her way slowly toward the store exit.
The man was methodical in his search, marking every woman in the store and checking them off one by one. The girl wasn’t in the store, which left the park or the restaurant down the street, or maybe she had made it back to the train station. A woman was just leaving the store, a slender woman with a sun hat pulled low on her forehead, walking with a slight limp. She was trying to hide the limp, but wasn’t quite successful. That had to be her.
She exited the store and turned right down the sidewalk. If she could make it to the train station, she could lose herself in the crowd there, or she could go to the park that was next to the store. The park was crowded as well. That might work, and it was much closer. The way her leg felt, she wasn’t sure how long she could walk, but if she could lose her pursuer, it would give her time to plan her next move.
She turned into the park, no longer able to keep from limping, but she forced herself to act normal and headed toward a bench about fifty yards away. Her leg was throbbing and she knew if she didn’t sit down soon it might give out. She picked up her pace and made it to the bench, turning to sit down.
The man was right behind her and there was no mistaking that it was her. The limp was more pronounced and she was fixated on the bench. He didn’t need to take her alive, as long as he could get the drive. It would have to be done quickly and quietly. He was only a few feet behind her now. He could take her as she sat down and if he timed it right, nobody would even notice until he was long gone.
He was so focused on his target that he failed to notice Leonid coming up from behind him. Rachel was turning to sit down on the bench and the man had a knife in his right hand. In one smooth movement, Leonid moved his right hand, still in his jacket pocket, and placed the tip of his suppressor in the small of the man’s back, angled slightly upward, and fired one round through his back and straight into his heart. He put his other arm around the man’s shoulders and eased him into a seated position on the bench next to Rachel. The entire movement took only a couple seconds and didn’t arouse any suspicion.
Rachel took a moment to process what had just happened, but Leonid didn’t give her any more time than that.
“Come on, we need to keep moving. Someone will find him soon enough and we don’t want to be anywhere near here.”
23
The Oval Office
CIA Director Larry McCormick entered the Oval Office and sat down in a chair opposite President Michael Brooks.
“So Larry, what do you have? Are we any closer to nailing the bastards behind these bombings?” Brooks asked.
“Whoever pulled it off was extremely professional. We have nothing on the explosives used and no money trail. About all we know is that they were all set off by car bombs in the parking garages.”
“Suicide attacks?”
“At first glance, it does appear that way.”
“Then at least you know who was driving the cars?”
“We have the registration information on most of the cars, and DNA from the drivers. The drivers don’t appear to have ties to any terrorist organizations. In fact, they were all completely clean.”
“None of them were illegals?”
“No, they were all legal immigrants, from various parts of the Middle East.”
Brooks pounded his right fist into his left palm. “I knew it. Something like that had to be radical jihadists.”
“Mr. President, I would caution you against jumping to conclusions too fast.”
“Too fast? You got ten car bombs and ten dead Muslims. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist—”
“We’re not finished with the investigation, sir.”
“We already know it was the A-rabs. You told me yourself.”
“Each car was driven by a person of Middle Eastern descent. That’s all we know. We don’t know who was behind it, if the drivers were willing…we don’t really know a hell of a lot at this point.”
“I need to tell the American people something. They’ve waited long enough.”
“In all due respect, I think they can wait a few more days. Our friends are working the case as well, and the lady said she has some intel that could change the narrative.”
“Those folks are good, but I don’t like the idea of some private outfit snooping around as much as they do. Have you narrowed down who they are or where they’re operating from?”
“Their encryption is too good. We have no idea, but they do seem to be on the up and up. We owe them one for Miami.”
“I suppose you’re right, but it still bugs me.”
“I for one think we should work with them, maybe even throw some jobs their way. Deniability and all that.”
“That’s a discussion for another day. For now, we’ll take all the help we can get. Work with them on this one. I’ll give you a few days, but if you can’t convince me it wasn’t the A-rabs, I’m cutting off all travel from the Middle East and giving a press conference.”
“I’ll work with them as far as they’ll let me. They’re probably still a bit gun shy after what happened with the last director.”
Rachel settled down in the small cabin, sipping a can of Baikal and trying to relax. There was more to Leonid than met the eye, that much was sure. He was the 2nd officer on the freighter, but he had displayed a skill set that she was sure not many 2nd officers possessed. He had given her his cabin. A couple nights on the extra bunk in the captain’s cabin would not be a problem.
The cabin was small and sparse, but comfortable enough all things considered. She was still armed with the pistol she had taken from the guard at Yuriy’s place, and Leonid knew she had it, which should dispel any wild notions he should have. The other men on the ship knew he had a guest, and the way they went about their business like this was no big deal told her that she probably wasn’t the first young woman to share his cabin.
She felt the slight shudder of the engines as the ship got out into open water and started picking up speed. The captain had invited her for dinner, but that wasn’t for another two hours, so she propped her leg up and leaned her head back. The ship had an easy motion, her leg was as comfortable as she could make it, and the next thing she knew she was startled by a knock at the cabin door.
She opened the door to find Leonid standing there with a small bag.
“Something for you to freshen up with. Dinner is in fifteen minutes. There is a shower through that door if you wish to use it.”
“Thank you. I think I will,” she said, taking the bag from Leonid.
Fifteen minutes later she was at the captain’s table, looking and feeling more refreshed than she had in days. She looked around the table, surprised at the food she saw there. The captain
noticed her astonishment immediately.
“I have an American guest, so I thought we would have American food,” he replied, “Captain Andreyevich at your service.”
“It’s been a while since I had a good steak. Do the other men eat somewhere else?”
“The hands have their own dinner. Sometimes I invite some of them to dine with me, but under present circumstances, I thought it best if they saw as little of you as possible. We can’t be too careful.”
“Is there any danger on the ship?”
“I don’t foresee any, but caution is still best.”
“I won’t argue that.”
The conversation continued along a pleasant but rather vague track and Rachel eventually retired to Leonid’s cabin, full and with as many questions as she had when she first boarded. The captain seemed to know more than he let on, no doubt courtesy of Leonid, and this whole affair seemed matter of fact, like smuggling people out of Russia was all in a day’s work. She stretched out and propped her leg up, took a pain killer, and tried to relax again. Her thoughts ran to the people who had helped her since her escape. This was more than mere good fortune, getting the help from Nikita and Jelena, and then from people Nikita just happened to know. Coincidence? Maybe. Providence? Maybe more likely than coincidence.
She thought about this and about the message she sent to Ahmed, hoping he would figure it out and someone would be waiting in Stockholm. She felt in her pocket for the USB drive, relieved that it was still there, and wondered what kind of information was on it. Ahmed could decipher it in time, hopefully fast enough for them to act on whatever they found. What kind of intel was on there anyway? What kind of diabolical plans did Yuriy have? At this point, the pain killer began to kick in and the throbbing in her leg subsided to a tolerable level, and she drifted off.
Yuriy stared into the fireplace and sipped his scotch. The Prescott girl was turning out to be more of a nuisance than he had bargained for. The team he sent across the lake were taken out, as were the next two teams he sent. Sergei had tracked her as far as St. Petersburg, but he hadn’t reported in for a few hours and wasn’t answering his phone. She was receiving help, that much was certain. He hadn’t bargained on her having contacts in this part of Russia. Maybe it was simply coincidence. He knew he had no shortage of enemies, and if the people across the lake were among those, they would not have hesitated to help her.
A knock on his door interrupted his thoughts, and a moment later Pavel entered the room and pulled another chair up to the fireplace.
“Get yourself a drink, why don’t you,” Yuriy said.
“Maybe later. I want to keep a clear head.”
“Do you have any news?”
Pavel pulled out a tablet and held it so Yuriy could see.
“I pulled this off a CCTV feed in St. Petersburg.”
He played the video and Yuriy watched a young woman enter the frame, walking with a limp and heading for a park bench. He saw another man following her, but then another man came into the picture, putting his arm around the first man’s shoulder and helping him onto the bench. The second man said something to the woman and they both left.
“What did I just see?” Yuriy asked.
“That is Sergei sitting on the bench. He was found an hour later, shot to death. Look closely at the video.”
Pavel played the video slower this time, and Yuriy could see the other man with one hand against Sergei’s back while he put the other arm around his shoulder. To anyone walking by, it would have looked like he was helping a wobbly friend sit down. He had to admire the way it was done. The whole thing took no more than a couple seconds. Sergei never knew what happened.
“Who is this other man?”
“I have no idea. I never got a good look at his face.”
“Okay, about the drive. Do you think she still has it?”
“The drive was destroyed, but we have no way of knowing if she was able to copy it.”
“Is there any way it could be copied?”
“It was heavily encrypted. Copying it would not be easy.”
“You were tracking it. How long was it in one place before our men got there?”
“Not above a couple hours. If they copied it, they had some good equipment, or someone who knew what he was doing.”
“Let’s assume the worst and say she has a copy. What kind of danger can she pose?”
“All of our ops are in those files, but she probably can’t stop the remote ops even if she knows what’s coming.”
“How do you figure that?”
“We can run those from here, and nothing short of a direct assault can stop us.”
“We should prepare for that then.”
“That is already underway. Motion sensors are being installed over the entire grounds. The advanced radar and anti- aircraft systems are going in by the end of the week, and we’ll have extra security personnel arriving tomorrow. Nobody will be able to get within two miles on foot without us knowing and we’ll be able to shoot down any aircraft that gets close enough to pose a threat.”
“Then we shall proceed as planned, but we still need to stop the girl.”
“If she was last spotted in St. Petersburg, there’s only way she can go.”
“By ship?”
“Precisely. I’ve already looked up every cargo ship departing St. Petersburg since the time of that video and deployed a two- man team to every destination port. If she disembarks at any of those ports, we’ll know it.”
“What do you think her most likely destination is?”
“Stockholm, probably. I sent an extra team there.”
“You have been most thorough. Keep me updated with any developments. In the meantime, pour yourself a drink and sit with me a while. I could use the company.”
Casey and Jefferson touched down in Stockholm and within a few minutes were in a rental car headed north of the city.
“So how far is the port from here?” Jefferson asked.
“According to the GPS, about 90 kilometers, little over an hour drive, town called Kappelspär.”
“We’re early, right?”
“Yeah, she should be here tomorrow afternoon.”
“So, what we doing until then?”
“For starters, checking into a motel and getting cleaned up, then maybe finding some food, after we’ve walked around the dock area to get familiar with the area.”
“I don’t know what I want more, a shower or a meal. We got a nice place?”
“Would you believe a Best Western?”
“Best Western in Sweden?”
“Well, it has a different name, but it’s owned by them.”
“Didn’t think I’d go halfway around the world to stay at a Best Western.”
“As long as the shower’s hot and the bed is good, I don’t care what they call it. Anyway, I think we should drop our bags and head to the docks first, try to look like tourists.”
“So, we can take pictures?”
“Probably, but you need to get good at memorizing as much of the area as you can. We need to find the berth and scope out all the quick exits in case we run into trouble. Let’s give ourselves a couple hours there and then we’ll have plenty of time to eat and rest up.”
“You’re the boss.”
24
The next morning Casey and Jefferson were up early, eating breakfast and going over the photos they had taken the day before at the dock.
“So, this is the berth for her ship,” Jefferson asked.
“Yes, and with any luck, we meet her as she walks off and it’s back to the car and off to the airport.”
“You think it’s gonna be that easy?”
“Probably not. We need to assume we’ll have company and we need to anticipate where they might be. We’re looking for the same thing they’ll be looking for, a good vantage point to keep an eye on the ship.”
“If the Russians are here, they’ll be expecting someone to meet her.”
“Most likely. They
’ll want to keep an eye on the ship and an eye out for us, but they don’t know what we look like.”
“A couple black dudes in Sweden? We’re already sticking out like sore thumbs.”
“It’s a busy port. We won’t be the only black folk around.”
“You seen many in town?”
“Well, not many, but there are bound to be a few black crew members coming ashore. We need to blend in as well as we can. Just keep your head on a swivel and be alert to any threats. The key is to spot them before they spot us.”
Rachel woke up to a discreet knock on the door. It was Leonid with a tray of food.
“Thought you’d rather just eat in here. We’re on schedule and should be in Kappelspär this afternoon.”
“I thought we were going to Stockholm.”
“Kappelspär is a port just north of Stockholm. Are you sure your friends are going to be there?”
“Someone should, but I’ll have no way of knowing until we get there.”
“That’s risky, just disembarking and hoping they’ll be there.”
“Ahmed is smart enough to figure out the message, so someone will be there. I just don’t know who.”
As the day wore on, it became obvious to Jefferson that he need not fear blending in. Ships were coming and going and he saw people from every corner of the world moving about.
“Guess we don’t stick out so bad,” he said.
“Long as we don’t talk to anybody. Lot of Africans here.”
“Her ship should be here soon, right?”
“Due in twenty minutes, but it might be early. There’s one heading this way.”
The Korean Gambit Page 17
