Rasputin's Prodigy

by Michael Weinberger

  I nodded as I studied the screen, “Any recent activity?”

  Chris shrugged, “Nothing dramatic on the outside, but it will be easier to tell for sure at night. If they leave the lights on, then we know that something is happening inside.”

  “So that's it?” I asked. “The girls are in either one of these two locations? No other possibilities?”

  “Um...” Chris looked concerned, “ Actually, there may be another possibility.”

  I could feel my spirits drop as I saw that Chris had found a flaw in the parameters of the search.

  “How bad?” I asked, without truly wanting to hear the answer.

  Chris turned back to the computer and sighed, “Pretty bad actually.”

  His fingers flew over the keys again and video images switched from an industrial landscape to one of empty fields and pastures.

  “When you mentioned crop dusters a thought occurred to me. Most of the people living out here in the sticks are either farmers or shepherds. Access to town is limited so, if they really had to, how do they get help or supplies quickly?”

  “Don't tell me,” I practically moaned, “they have what they need flown in?”

  Chris nodded, “Igor was helpful to translate some of my questions I asked of our hostess, and it seems the rancher here, and his closest neighbors had worked together to construct a runway in the center of their properties. It's just a dirt road really, but it's enough for a small plane, equipped with the proper landing gear, to put down in case of an emergency. It's also centrally located enough that all the neighbors have to travel a similar distance to get to the landing strip. Apparently a lot of the farms, in the good old days of the Soviet Union, would deliver their goods to this central location, where they were loaded onto a plane. That was also when they would be given whatever supplies they were allotted under the communist system. After the fall of the Soviet Union the idea of either building or maintaining the existing runways grew from there.”

  “And this is a problem for us because...?”

  Chris tapped a final key and the laptop screen flickered until an image of a wide pasture of what looked like little more than wild grasses came into view. In the center were a couple of warehouses that sat along what appeared to be a long and wide dirt road.

  “What's this place?” I asked.

  Chris shook his head, “Not sure really,” Chris used the mouse pad to “zoom out” the image on the screen and I immediately noted that the area looked as if it had been constructed in multiple squares. The borders were simple roads or trails, likely used for moving farming equipment around, and those trails could still be seen despite the overgrowth of grasses. Each square was likely several acres across and completely enclosed the multiple warehouses. It instantly brought to mind a chessboard save for the four darkened warehouse buildings and long dark strip that was the runway.

  “I don't see a flight tower or any other support equipment for a working airport.”

  Chris nodded, “I agree and I was about to cross it off my list as a potential place when I started thinking about how Dimitri would coordinate so many planes to take off simultaneously without anyone noticing? Better yet, if an unusual number of planes began landing at one of those other airports in order to get prepped for Dimitri's attack, wouldn't some aircraft controller take an interest?”

  I shrugged, “Dimitri controls everything in this city. Maybe he just bribes them not to say anything?”

  Chris nodded, “Maybe, but there's a chance that the locals wouldn't be the only ones to notice.”

  I finished Chris' thought, “And Dimitri can't risk taking that chance so far into his plans.”

  “Right, so what if he used a place like this? Full warehouse facilities and a private airstrip where his planes could take off.”

  “But the planes would still need to file a flight plan from wherever they originated. Even if they weren't truthful about their destinations, that would still be a lot of planes unaccounted for.”

  “Unless he didn't fly the planes in,” Chris volunteered.

  “Hmm?” I responded.

  “Well, crop dusters are really light planes, so I thought why not just take the wings off and truck them in?”

  I stared at Chris as he continued, “They could just deliver the planes over time and store them in the warehouses next to the air tanks until it was time to go and no one would ever be the wiser.”

  I let out a frustrated grunt of air, “Damn, how common are these set ups around here?”

  Chris' face dropped, “Dozens. I can weed some of them out, but it will take a few days of surveillance to see who and what is happening at each location.”

  “And that's time we don't have.” I sighed. “You know, sometimes it would be nice just to get an answer the easy way.”

  Chris laughed, “As a former Medical Examiner, I can tell you there is no such thing. Every worthwhile clue is one that was discovered only once it had been dug out from under a pile of worthless shit.”

  I looked at Chris, one of my eyebrows askance, “You're not talking literally are you?”

  “For the most part no,” then Chris reconsidered, “but there was this one time when...”

  “Never mind!” I interrupted and pinched the spot between my eyes that received so much of my attention, at least whenever I had a prolonged “serious” conversation with Chris. “So, all we can do is sit and...”

  A draft swept into the room and delicious smells wafted in along with it, which served to shut me up mid-sentence. Chris turned hungrily toward the door beyond which our hostess was preparing the evening meal. I glanced outside and saw the sun setting even lower in the horizon and was saddened that my appetite had not returned, even for the real, home-cooked meal that had been prepared.

  “Want me to start searching now?” Chris asked with what sounded like reluctance.

  “Let's take a break. Why don't you grab the rest of the guys from the barn and I'll see if there's anything I can do to help our hostess.”

  Chris nodded, “Last I heard William was fetching water and I think Alpha went with him.”

  “What about Igor and Sasha?”

  “Igor is busy on his cell phone doing his business thing and Sasha was chopping firewood, but they were both by the barn. I'll grab them.”

  We both stretched and walked from the room. As I approached the main house I could smell the cooking meat and felt my stomach roil in response. I should have been hungry and instead felt nauseous.

  I strained to see through the kitchen window and my eyes locked on the stack of meat not yet on the fire as a pain pierced my guts and nearly forced me to the ground. I managed to stabilize myself and, concerned the lady of the house had seen me double over, I peered through the glass again. She was looking out the window, but not at me. I realized that she was staring, unblinking, out the window into the pasture with a worried look on her face. I turned and peered into the sunset to see the silhouettes of the sheep trotting in from the horizon along with the outline of the shepherd standing tall amongst them. I frowned, my pain now forgotten, as I watched the horizon, unsure of what had made the lady nervous, when a second figure came into view. Whoever was behind the shepherd was much larger and I could just make out the outline of a rifle in the waning light.

  I immediately bolted for the barn yelling, “Gun!”

  Instantly, Igor was off his cell phone and reaching for the weapons we had laid out on a table for cleaning. The sound of Sasha chopping wood halted abruptly and the young, shirtless man ran in from the back door of the barn, axe still in hand. Chris came around the far side of the barn where he had walked, likely in order to retrieve Sasha, and caught the hunting rifle that Igor tossed to him with fluid grace. Chris spun and immediately moved into a position where he could use the sight to get a better look at what we were dealing with.

  “Where's William and Alpha?” I shouted to Igor.

  “They went to get water from the well a little while ago, but they should hav
e been back by now!” Igor shouted back.

  Damn, I thought. They were going to walk right into this, unless they had already been ambushed.

  I turned to Chris, “Can you see anything?”

  “Sun's not quite behind the horizon and it's screwing up my ability to see clearly through the scope. I can make out the gunman, but that's about it. Want me to take him?”

  “Can you see the Shepherd? Does he look a prisoner or hostage?”

  I could see the barrel of the rifle shift slightly as Chris aimed at the Shepherd, “I can only make out his silhouette, everything's going to be in shadow until the sun goes down completely, although he seems to be walking pretty casually.”

  The pair were around two hundred yards away and some of the sheep had already made their way ahead of the rest of the herd, funneling into the large pens on the property where they slept every night.

  I shook my head, “Hold your fire, but keep the gunman in your sights, just in case.”

  “Got it.”

  I squinted my eyes to try to make out more detail on what was happening when the sounds of voices coming from the opposite direction made me pivot toward the noise. Alpha and William were walking up a small path carrying large plastic containers that were likely filled to capacity with water from the well.

  “They've stopped!” Chris called out.

  I turned and could see the figures facing Alpha and William, the gun man had raised his rifle up but hadn't aimed the barrel at the rancher or in our direction.

  Something small began to shift between the sheep that drew my attention. At first I thought it was one of the large dogs the rancher used to herd his flock, but soon realized it was something else.

  “Chris!” I called out urgently, “put the gun down!” but Chris was looking through the sight as the sun dropped beneath the horizon and his eyes went wide as he suddenly could make out the faces of the figures in the distance.

  “Holy shit!” Chris stammered out in surprise.

  I turned to Alpha and William and saw that they had noticed the people in the distance as well. They too had both frozen, wide-eyed with shock, but it was William that began to tremble as his eyes turned from their unusual pinkish hue to one of dark blood red. Panic filled me, as the thought that some other mind-altering programming had just clicked on in the man, just as it had when he first realized who Alexei was. The water containers fell with a crash from his large hands, and he bolted toward the figures at a full sprint. Alpha made no move to stop him, but as I turned I could see the gunman take a surprised step back, raise the rifle to his shoulder in order to take aim at the oncoming William. The rancher noticed the maneuver, and immediately spun to grab the barrel of the rifle, forcing it upward as it fired. The sound of the shot echoed, but William made no indication that he had even heard it. The small figure milling its way between the remaining sheep stopped and watched as William charged forward. As soon as it stopped moving I could make out what, or better yet “who,” it was. Emotion immediately rose and threatened to choke me with the lump it produced in my throat, as the small girl ran forward with a high pitched wail that erupted into tears. Pha ran with her hands held outstretched and her fingers grasping the air with every step, until William scooped her up and pulled her into his chest in a hug that looked as though it would crush every tiny bone in her body. The girl cried fitfully into the giant's shoulder, but her sobs didn't quite cover the sounds of William's own emotional outpouring, as the big man fell to his knees and protectively folded his entire body around the child in his arms.

  I hadn't realized that I had started walking toward the scene until I was standing next to the rancher, who was speaking the local language with the man that had accompanied him. The man was similarly dressed, but appeared older and larger than our man. The sight of Alpha and William was clearly not sitting well with the new arrival, as he glared at William and Pha, but the fatherly look of concern on his face seemed to be calming with every word our man was saying to him. Alpha was standing behind William and was beaming a bright smile at the scene, but in his eyes I could see the desperation to find out more about Lei. I also immediately recognized a similar dichotomy from my own emotions. I was overjoyed for the reunion happening in front of me, but I was simultaneously being torn apart with need to know Lei's fate.

  Chapter 33

  Eventually Pha's hysterical crying had turned to quiet sobs, and William stood while still holding her tightly in his arms, as he began walking toward the main house. The rancher nodded and suggested we all make our way inside to the meal that was waiting for us. I waved to Chris, Igor and Sasha, who were all still watching from the barn, to indicate that all was well as I pointed to the main house. Chris waved back and put his rifle down before heading over to the water containers and trying to lift them. He reluctantly called over to Igor and Sasha for help, and the other men quickly went to assist.

  Once we were all inside the main house the hostess took over and made a big fuss over the rifleman that brought Pha to us, as if he was her long, lost relative, and then commanded rest of us to wash up before dinner in a voice that brooked no argument. I took the opportunity from the ensuing commotion to turn to the rancher and ask, “Who is your friend?”

  “His land borders my own. We are neighbors, although there is enough pasture between the two of us that we rarely see each other.”

  I had promised myself that I would wait until after we ate before asking questions, but couldn't help myself, “And the girl?”

  The rancher nodded, “He says she wandered out of the woods and onto his property last night starving and completely exhausted. He says she was very lucky not to have collapsed before his dog discovered her.”

  “Very lucky,” I agreed, “how did he know to bring her here?”

  “It was the only thing he could think to do. He speaks no English, but he knows it when he hears it.”

  “So?”

  “So the girl was trying to talk to him in English, and I am the only person he knows around here who also speaks it.”

  “That's the only reason?”

  The rancher looked confused, but nodded and said, “As far as I know, yes.”

  There was a loud thump behind me and I turned to see Chris and the visiting rancher standing next to the water container they had just carried in. Both were out of breath from the effort and I absentmindedly remembered that William had been nonchalantly carrying a container in each hand when he returned to the ranch.

  “You heard?” I asked.

  Chris nodded, “Yep.”

  “What do you think?”

  Chris smiled, “I'm buying it.”

  “Do you think that Dimitri let her go? Maybe to flush us out or something?”

  Chris shot me a skeptical look, “So they let her go into the wilderness for who knows how long and, before getting eaten by wolves or bears, knew she'd end up on the doorstep of a friendly rancher who doesn't speak English, but knows someone who does, and that he would bring her to said English speaking person, all the while knowing that we had set up our operations at said English speaker's farm?”

  Chris had run out of breath saying all of that, and he inhaled comically before continuing, “If that was their plan and, with all of the millions of things that could have gone wrong, it happened exactly as it was supposed to, then we might as well give up right now because they can see the future and mold it to their evil desires.”

  I smiled at Chris, “Well, when you put it like that, okay.” I turned back to the rancher, “Do you think your friend can show us where he believes the girl came out of the forest?”

  The rancher nodded and said, “I will ask,” and walked from the room to prepare himself for dinner.

  Chris tapped me on the shoulder, “After we eat I'll start narrowing the search to around this location and see if there are anything the satellites can see within a few miles of here that might fit the bill.”

  The meal consisted mostly of stewed mutton with potatoes and r
oot vegetables, reminding me very much of a Hungarian Goulash, albeit with different spices. Also we had several loaves of bread that Igor and Sasha had retrieved from town earlier in the day. The hostess was constantly apologizing for not having baked the bread herself, despite the fact that her small wood-burning oven could never have handled the quantity necessary to feed the whole group. Water and beer, a brew the rancher made himself that wasn't half bad, if a bit yeasty for my taste, were provided and everyone tucked heartily into the food. William and Pha did not join us at the table, but William appeared and collected a loaf of bread and a large bowl of stew before retreating back to whatever bedroom he had claimed and where he had left his daughter. No one said anything, but everyone seemed to be on the same page, willing to give William and Pha some time alone. Regular conversation around the table was proving difficult as a result of the language restrictions, so the topic ultimately turned to planning.

  “My friend will return to his own land tomorrow morning. He says you are welcome to accompany him and he will show you where he found the girl.”

  “Is there any way we could use the car and give him a ride home?” I asked, “we have little time to spare.”

  The rancher translated and the visitor shrugged his shoulders as if to say it was fine with him.

  “How long do you think it will take us to get there?” I asked, still ignoring my food.

  The rancher considered, “It is a day's walk, but that is a straight line from his land to mine. By car the road will wind around the forests and other natural barriers, so it is likely between three and four hours.”

  My heart sank. Four hours there, another hour or so to snoop around looking for a trail, and then another four hours back again. At least another day lost before we could even know where to begin.

  Chris caught my expression and said with a cheery voice, “Hey, maybe we'll get lucky with the satellites?”

  “Are they going to be able to see in the dark?” I asked.

  Chris' voice dropped a little, “No, but if we find the right one, then they might have a bunch of lights on and people running around storing those air tanks of yours. I also might be able to tap into a feed from earlier in the day so we can see what was happening in the daylight.”