Nadia, and Elaina, were already at the table, whispering to each other. Henry sat across from them, deep in his own thoughts. As Charlie found his chair, the manager announced, “We are snowed in. There is no way in or out of here right now. So we will have to make do with what we have for awhile.” She turned to leave, and as an afterthought added, “our phones are also dead.”
Henry looked up from the table. “When will the snowplows come through?”
She laughed, and returned to the kitchen.
They all looked at each other.
Henry removed his glasses, inspected them, and nervously cleaned them with his paper napkin. Satisfied, he returned them to the bridge of his nose, and carefully straightened them, before studying the other diners. “What in the bloody hell can we do?”
“We are trapped here!” Elaina sobbed.
“Don’t worry,” Charlie tried to assure her. “There really is not much we can do about it. We weren’t going anywhere anyway,” he added.
Suddenly, Nadia looking around the table asked, “Where is Mr. Dieter? “He is usually the first one for meals.”
The manager was busy serving eggs and sausages, but no one paid any attention to her. They were all staring at the two empty chairs.
Charlie was about to leave and check on Dave when he burst into the dining room. “Sorry I’m late,” he apologized, “I must have overslept. Hope you started without me.”
Everyone looked at each other with relief.
Unlike other mornings, there was little conversation. By now they were aware of what had happened to Andre the night before, and by some unspoken agreement chose to ignore it.
Finally, Nadia broke the silence. “Do you think it may have been an accident?” she repeated the question she had asked the night before.
Charlie again considered the possibility, searching for an acceptable answer. He was convinced he knew what had happened. There was no doubt in his mind, but he was not sure how he should respond to Nadia. Finally, he decided candor was necessary if they were to remain safe.
“No, it was no accident. I looked around the floor of the mine near Andre’s body, and there were no loose rocks. Even, if it was a falling rock, his helmet would have shielded him from the blow. Someone had to strike him from behind with some form of blunt instrument.”
“Would it have required a strong blow…a strong person?” Henry asked.
They were all silent. Finally, Dave answered. “Not necessarily, if a person got close enough with a heavy weapon that could do the job. “
“The miners were all killed by someone sneaking up behind them and using a garrote,” Charlie offered. “Perhaps it wasn’t the same person that killed Andre. It seems likely though it was someone he recognized, or the person was extremely quiet.”
The conversation at the table turned to focus directly on their own situation.
“Who would have done such a thing-----and why?” Nadia asked.
Dave Dieter jumped in. “One thing is sure, it wasn’t one of us. We were all together while Andre was in the mine.”
Elaina was close to tears. “But….but, who then?” she asked looking around the table.
“I don’t know. It is difficult to tell. It would seem likely that it is one or more of the Russian miners,” Charlie replied.
Elaina stared at him. “So we are trapped here, and someone wants to kill us…is that what you are saying?”
Charlie shrugged, “that is pretty much the way it looks.”
“I wish…. I really wish I could get out of here,” Elaina burst out, almost in a moan. Tears filled her eyes.
“I am sure we all do,” Nadia reassured her, patting her arm. “But we can’t---at least not for awhile.”
“I know one thing,” Henry told them. They all turned to look at him. “I didn’t come this far to die in Kazakhstan. If I had wanted to do that I would have done it a long time ago.”
“If we are finished eating lets go to the lounge and decide what to do next,” Charlie suggested. It seemed better to carry on the discussion somewhere more private. The kitchen staff appeared to be paying scant attention to them, but it had occurred to him that one of them might be keeping the miners informed on what they were doing.
“Do we continue working on the project?” Dave asked.
“Certainly,” Charlie replied. “That has to be the reason someone is trying to do away with us. We can’t leave, so we might as well do what they sent us to do.”
He had noticed, while they were eating, each of them would occasionally steal a glance toward the empty chair that Andre once occupied. As they left, he turned and removed the chair from the table, and placed it against the wall.
Previously, the lounge served the advisors as a place to relax at the end of the day. This morning, their focus was one of preservation rather than relaxation. They each filed in and found their place among the mismatched furniture.
After they were settled Charlie began, “I would suggest that from now on we work here in the hotel instead of the administration building. Would that be a problem for anyone?”
“Elaina and I have made it a practice to bring our laptops back here each night so we can work here as well as over there,” Nadia replied, looking to Elaina for confirmation.
Elaina nodded, still visibly upset.
Dave shrugged his agreement. “No problem for me, I bring my notes back here each day anyway.”
“I have all the payroll records in my room, we can start getting those in shape now,” Henry offered.
“How are they coming?” Charlie asked.
“Well the mine management kept really poor records. It was obviously not a priority with them. But, from what I can see they could cut their personnel by at least 40% and still run a productive operation.”
“I think that is pretty typical from what I have seen in other Russian-run organizations.” Charlie told him. “The nomenklatura in the Kremlin were principally interested in creating employment. They had no interest in such bourgeoisie considerations as profit, so they never had to worry about such mundane matters like efficiency,”
Dave chimed in, “that may be why the miners don’t want to see anyone else take over the mine and upset their applecart.”
Elaina looked at him. “Do you think they would kill for that?”
“I think it is damn good possibility,” Henry intervened. “Not only does their pay depend on it, but their way of life as well. People have killed for a lot less.”
“We can’t just sit here and wait for someone to get rid of us.” Nadia told them. “We have to do something.” It was obvious that none of them could concentrate on the project when their own life was threatened.
Charlie had been thinking about that as well. “There is someone who might be able to throw some light on what is going on here.”
“The fellow that gave you the note?” Nadia asked. “I’ve been wondering why he did that.”
“So have I. The problem is how to get him to tell us what he knows.”
“Try the old carrot and stick approach,” Dave suggested.
Nadia giggled. “The Russians refer to that as the whip and gingerbread.”
Charlie stood and looked at Nadia and Elaina. “Look ladies I am hesitant to suggest this, but you are the only gingerbread I can think of that might influence him.”
“And the whip?”
“The whip, Nadia, is that unless our runny-eyed friend tells us what is going on, we will inform the mine manager that he was the one who passed us the note. He took great pains to slip it into my pocket without the rest of them seeing him.”
“Why would he want to have done that?” Dave asked.
“That’s what we will try and find out.” Charlie replied.
There seemed to be tacit agreement among them that the approach might work. The remainder of their discussion centered on how to implement it without endangering the women. They all finally agreed they would try to approach the miner in the brewery, and attempt
to get him in a private conversation to try and find out what he knew.
Dave would go in first, sit by himself, and hope that as time passed, he would no longer be noticed. Later, Charlie, Nadia, and Elaina would go to the brewery, and position themselves so that Elaina could make eye contact with the miner.
Afterwards, Charlie would leave and the women would remain, trying to charm him into joining them. Dave would also stay behind, at a separate table in order to provide the women with some level of security.
Charlie knew it was a feeble attempt at the honey trap approach that was part of spy’s tradecraft throughout the centuries. Using a desirable woman to try to seduce a lonely man into divulging information he was keeping to himself had a proven record of success. This seduction, however, would have to be in public, and without benefit of any eventual gratification. There was not much chance for it working, but lacking an acceptable alternative, it seemed worth a try.
The inside of the brewery was eye watering smoky. The odor of stale beer mingled with sweaty men in a smoky atmosphere provided a noxious result. The mine manager and his assistant sat apart from the others. All eyes turned to the newcomers who were presenting a novel and welcome intrusion into the miner’s deadly dull daily routine.
Charlie stole a glance at Dave seated in the back of room, concentrating on his beer. Nadia and Elaina found a table where they could look more directly at their target, while Charlie went to the bar.
Returning with their drinks, he positioned himself at their table with his back to the miners.
The women had been nervous about the plan from the beginning, but for lack of anything better were willing to play their roles.
The beer tasted dreadful. The Russians avoided any form of pasteurization in their brewing process, and it resulted in a foul tasting mixture, unlike any other in the world.
Elaina was an accomplished flirt, both by nature and practice. She soon became the focus of the miner’s attention. A coy smile drew the gaze of her target, while Charlie reviewed what they hoped to accomplish. It would be up to Nadia and Elaina to lure the man away from his manager.
If they were successful, after the required small talk, the two girls would attempt to direct the conversation toward the death of the five miners. Underlying their conversation would be the veiled promise of further intimacy in return for his information. Also implicit in their conversation would be the threat of revealing what he had previously given them that led to the location of the bodies. Elaina was to be the gingerbread and the threat was to be the whip.
“I really don’t like doing this,” Elaina whispered.
“Neither do I,” Nadia agreed.
“I don’t either,” Charlie added, “but I can’t figure out any other way of finding out why he passed me the diagram. But, I don’t blame you. If you really want to leave, we can leave right now.”
Elaina shrugged, again glancing at the miner and smiling.
“OK then, I’m going to finish my beer and check out of here,” Charlie told them. “Dave will keep an eye out for you, and intervene if it becomes necessary.”
He quickly emptied his glass, and left.
In the hotel lounge, Charlie and Henry reviewed where they were on the project but, try as they might, neither of them could focus on what they were doing. Time passed slowly as they waited for the two interpreters to return. Finally, Henry stretched out on the sofa, and fell asleep.
“Well that didn’t work,” Nadia exclaimed disgustedly from the top of the stairs.
Henry jumped up as Nadia, and Elaina burst into the lounge. “Tell us everything that happened.”
The two women began talking excitedly to each other in Russian. They stopped when they realized the men couldn’t understand them.
“Unfortunately, there is not much to tell,” Nadia began. “After Mr. Connelly left it took only a few minutes for---Boris is his name--it took just a few minutes before Boris came to our table. He immediately sat down. We didn’t even have to invite him.”
Nadia stopped as Dave entered the lounge with a disappointed look on his face.
“Well Boris sat down---he was really interested in Elaina---he sat down and began telling us how important he was.”
“He was terribly drunk,” Elaina added.
“Well, all Boris could talk about was himself,” Nadia continued.
“We finally just asked him about the diagram,” Elaina added. “Several times.”
“That’s right, several times,” Nadia confirmed. “But, either he was too drunk to focus on that. Or too smart.”
“I really doubt the smart part. Finally, he started to grab my leg under the table,” Elaina told them, making a face. So we got up and left. He looked shocked that we would do that. But it---or he—was getting out of hand. We knew Mr. Dieter was there, but we were afraid the other miners might come to help Boris—so--so we just left,” she blurted.
“You did exactly right,” Charlie told her. “We will have to think of something else.”
“What do we do now,” Dave wanted to know.
“Lock your doors,” Charlie told him brusquely.
Before going to bed, Charlie checked the list of suspects once more. Nothing leapt out at him. As he dropped off to sleep, the hoarse voice of Emmett Valentine ricocheted around his mind. “Remember, in this business nothing is like it seems.”
21
A loud banging, punctuated by a woman’s piercing scream, reverberated through the deserted hotel hallway. Charlie leapt from his bed, and hit the floor running. Doors swung open behind him as he raced through the corridor. The thumping of his bare feet on the hall floor matched the cadence of the banging on the hotel room door.
Boris turned in bleary-eyed shock at the approaching figure. He was drunkenly unsteady on his feet, but it did not prevent him from taking an arcing swing at the shadowy form suddenly confronting him.
Charlie parried with his forearm, before landing a bone-crunching blow on the intruder’s chin. Boris crumpled to the floor, his bleary eyes rolled back into his head.
Henry, Dave, and Nadia immediately joined Charlie. “It’s all right Elaina,” Nadia yelled through the door. “You can come out now. It’s all right dear,” she repeated more calmly.
Elaina peeked out, with her door slightly ajar. Seeing Boris’ limp figure on the floor she began to withdraw into her room once again. Nadia caught the door before it closed. “That’s all right don’t worry, he can’t hurt you now.” Inside the room, Elaina stood shivering in only her bra and panties.
“Here, put on your robe, and tell us what happened.” Nadia told her in a soothing voice.
“I was sound asleep, when I heard tapping at my door. I may have heard it at other doors, but it could have been only a dream. I thought it was one of you, so I went to see who it was. There was Boris. I slammed the door, and threw the lock. It only made him angrier, and he began pounding on the door again. That’s what you must have heard. I started to scream louder, but he only pounded harder. I was afraid he was going to break the door down. Then what would I do?”
Elaina began to tremble again, and Nadia put her arm around her shoulders to comfort her before leading her back into her room.
The men dragged Boris into the lounge, out of sight of Elaina.
“What do we do with this bastard?” Dave wanted to know.
“I feel terrible about this,” Charlie told them. “I got her into this. I thought we had taken enough precautions so the girls would be safe. It never occurred to me that he would come back here.”
“Well the plan worked part way,” Henry said. “Elaina sure got old bleary-eyed Boris’ attention. He must have been thinking about her---could not get her out of his mind, I bet. I imagine he convinced himself that she would want to see him too, if only he could find her and get her alone. His plan didn’t work all that well either. Now that we have him we can find out what you wanted to know.”
“All right, but how do we make him talk?” Charlie asked as
Boris began to stir.
“I know how to do that,” Henry replied.
Dave and Charlie both turned and stared with considerable skepticism at the small accountant. “You can?” they chorused in disbelief.
“Listen, I know what you are thinking, but you’re wrong. Unfortunately, I have seen enough men broken in my time to fill a damn book. The Russians were expert at it, and I have no bloody reservations about using their own techniques on a drunken Russian miner that was intent on raping Elaina.”
Death on the Silk Road Page 18
