by Trevor Scott
Making sure the volume was turned down, he ran the video on his phone, watching a young blonde woman kick the crap out of two college men. It made him laugh even more than the kitten videos she sent him.
He put the phone against his chest when the waiter brought him his drinks and set them on the table. As the waiter walked away, the older guy said ‘faggot’ under his breath. What was going on with men in Europe? They were turning into girls. Probably pissed sitting down too.
He watched the video a couple of more times, smiling broadly each time. Then he got another text from his young female colleague, who had more balls than his waiter. She wanted instructions. Wanted to know if they would take one of these Estonian officers. He texted back a simple no. She sent him a sad face.
Then his phone buzzed and he saw a familiar number. His contact in the Baltics. He quickly picked up and said hello in English.
“Have you heard anything about our efforts in Narva?” the man asked.
He glanced about to make sure nobody could hear his conversation. “No. I understand they are still looking.”
“What about the other Estonian officers?”
“We are sitting on them in Tallinn.”
“Why did they go back there?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe they wait for us to provide proof of the man’s capture.”
“We can’t do that without the actual man.”
He was quite aware of that fact. So he said nothing, not wanting to anger this man.
“Stay with them,” his contact said. Then the line went blank.
Glancing at his phone, he wasn’t sure how to take this man. He knew that this guy was in charge of the Baltic State efforts, but he had no idea what kind of real power he had over him. Compartmentalization worked both ways—it ensured obscurity but also blurred lines of authority. The military was much easier to understand.
Moscow was ready to make a major move in the Baltics, and he was on the potential front lines of that effort. He smiled with that thought. About damn time.
5
Tallinn, Estonia
Jake had been delayed for a couple of hours in Berlin with a hydraulic issue on the billionaire’s private jet. It turned out to be a false warning. So he eventually took off and they dropped him off at the Tallinn airport just as the sun started to break through the clouds. He guessed he wouldn’t see much of the sun, since rain was falling lightly across the city. At this time of year in the northern countries of the world, midnight often looked like mid-day. And with the gloom of clouds and rain, noon could look like dawn.
He had decided to rent a car at the terminal, picking up a silver Czech-built Skoda sedan.
Parking a couple of blocks from the Old Town, Jake got out and started walking toward the southern entrance of the walled city. He was familiar with this city from his days in the CIA, when the Soviet Union controlled the Baltic States, but it had been a couple of years since he had been to this city. Of the Baltic States, he liked Estonia more than the other two. Maybe that was because Tallinn was such a nice old place, surrounded by forests that reminded Jake of places in northern Minnesota or the U.P. of Michigan. Maybe even Newfoundland.
Just before nine in the morning, stores were coming to life and tourists were making their way through the cobblestoned pedestrian zone. He needed to pretend to be one of them, stopping occasionally to view racks of postcards and shelves of trinkets. He even found a free map of the Old Town and unfolded it to familiarize himself with the layout of the streets. Most old towns in Europe had narrow lanes built before cars, which led to open squares with a church. Everything in those days revolved around the churches. The open squares were used to sell fruits and vegetables, and according to the booths opening now, they still were used for this in Tallinn.
As Jake got to the edge of the square against the stone wall of a tall church, his phone buzzed and he looked to see who was calling. It was Alexandra. He had to take this.
“How you doing?” Jake asked, his eyes scanning the entire square for anything out of the ordinary.
“I’ve got you in Tallinn,” she said. “I thought you weren’t going there for a few days.”
He wasn’t sure how much to tell her, but she did have a right to know his activities—which is why he agreed to be tracked by her. It was strange having someone concerned for his safety, other than for mission operational reasons. He wasn’t entirely used to someone caring. His phone was encrypted at the highest possible level, with his signal bouncing around through a server that would spoof his location to random places worldwide. Only a small handful of people had his number. Alexandra was the only person on the planet who could find his real location. Unless he wanted to be found.
“I collected that last Syrian asshole in Berlin yesterday,” Jake said. “I’m guessing you got our Polizei friend the intel he needs to convict.”
“Sure did. What did General Graves want?”
Jake started to walk down the narrow lane toward Viru Street. “It’s Karl. He’s missing.”
“In Estonia? I thought he was with your Army there.”
Stopping for a moment to check his six, Jake said softly, “He is. But he was on loan to the Estonians.”
“KAPO?”
“Yes,” Jake said, starting to walk again. “On the eastern border. I’m heading to a meeting with them now to see what happened.”
“I’m so sorry, Jake. But I’m sure he’s fine.” She sniffled quietly.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“Yes, of course.”
“And the baby?”
Alexandra let out a breath of air. “Fine.”
“You had a doctor’s appointment yesterday,” Jake remembered. “How did that go?”
She hesitated. Then finally she said, “We did an ultrasound. I know the sex.”
Jake stopped again. “The doctor has known that for a while. I thought we. . .”
“I couldn’t help it. I needed to know.”
“And?”
“Promise you won’t be mad.”
“It doesn’t matter to me, Alexandra. As long as the baby is healthy.”
“She is.”
“A girl?”
“Yes.”
“Why would I be mad at that?”
“Well, my mind fast forwarded to when she gets to dating age and some young boy shows up to the door to take her out. I can imagine what you might do.”
“Damn straight,” he said. “Nobody will mess with my little girl.”
“I might be there with you, Jake. But we will have to teach her how to defend herself as well.”
“We will.” He slowed his pace when he reached Viru Street, knowing he needed to take his time now, with the meeting set for a couple blocks away in a half hour. “Listen, this is great news. I’ve got to get to my meeting and vet the venue first.”
“I understand. I wish I could be there with you.”
“You’re seven months pregnant. You need to stay healthy. Eat right and get some rest. You deserve it.”
“So do you, Jake. You have been working constantly for the Spaniard these last few months.”
“I know. But I will be home soon.”
“Find your son.”
“I will.”
Then they both cut the call and Jake pocketed his phone. He felt his Glock under his left arm, covered by his light-weight summer leather jacket. Jake hoped it wouldn’t get too hot or he would be forced to carry a sub-compact handgun with much fewer rounds. Part of him hated the warm months for that very reason.
He spent the next half hour wandering around shops in the smaller square near the Viru Gates on the eastern side of the Old Town. Jake had gotten a photo and info sheet for his contact, Hans Vaino. Right at ten a.m. he was certain the KAPO officer wandered into the coffee shop on the western corner of the square. The man walked like a stork through pig crap. But Jake waited another ten minutes to be sure the Estonian wasn’t being followed.
Just as Ja
ke was about to go into the coffee shop, he noticed an older man round the corner with a newspaper under his right arm. Upon closer observation, Jake could see a distinct bulge under the man’s left arm. Maybe this guy was a backup for Hans Vaino.
Instead of going into the coffee shop, the older man crossed the narrow street and sat outside at a rival café. Jake looked at himself in the glass and realized that the man he had thought of as old was probably his age. Damn.
Before Jake crossed the square, he took the time to scan everything about the man, from his face to his clothes. Then Jake moved along the outer edge of the square, crossed the street, and stopped in front of the coffee shop to view the menu. In the front window, he could look through and see the young KAPO officer, and then he could also view the tail in the window. The man was definitely interested in Jake. Damn it.
Jake went inside, scanned the room to assess the threat, and then nodded when he saw the Estonian officer sitting in a booth against the far wall.
Sitting down without saying anything, Jake put his back against the wall so he could still see the front door and the rest of the room.
The younger man across from him reached his hand out and introduced himself. “Hans Vaino.”
Jake let the man hang for a moment. Then he finally squeezed down and retrieved his hand. “Jake,” he said.
“I understand you are with. . .”
Waving his hand quickly, Jake said, “Don’t mention anything. This place is not secure.”
Hans flipped his long, skinny fingers through what hair he had on his head, which wasn’t much. The guy looked like a former athlete. “Are you sure?”
Jake shifted his eyes from Hans to a blonde woman across the room. “Is the blonde with you?”
“How. . ?”
“She came down here twenty minutes ago, clutching her handbag a bit too tightly,” Jake said. “Her eyes were keen to her surroundings, but perhaps too much so for an average citizen. She walked with confidence, as if nobody could harm her—like a black belt who has never gotten her ass kicked.”
Hans pulled out his cell phone and texted a message.
The blonde woman checked her phone and shook her head. Then she got up and wandered across the coffee shop, taking a seat next to her partner.
Now Jake reached across the table. “Jake Konrad,” he said, giving his fake persona.
The woman gave Jake a tight handshake and said, “Kadri Kask. How did you know?”
“You’re obviously a strong, confident woman,” Jake said. “Sometimes you have to pretend to be a normal woman. Make yourself less imposing.”
“I see,” she said.
“Now,” Jake said, “what can the two of you tell me about the night our Army friend went missing?”
The young woman caught a glance with her older partner.
Hans explained the operation in detail. When he was done, he turned to his partner and said, “Do you have anything you would like to add?”
“I think he got away,” she said.
“Why do you say that?” Jake asked.
She explained the gunfire and the subsequent search. “As far as we know, they are still searching.”
That made no sense to Jake. Especially if Moscow thought the man they sought was an American. It made more sense that they would mess with one of their former satellite states to glean as much information as possible about the NATO mission. But this was great for Jake.
“I think you’re right. . .Kadri,” Jake said.
“It means Katherine,” she explained.
“I’ll stick with Kadri,” Jake said. “I like it.”
The blonde smiled at Jake.
“Now what?” Hans asked.
Jake’s eyes shifted over the booth toward the large picture window and across the street. His movement was imperceptible to the average human.
“What are your orders?” Jake asked.
“Our boss told us to come here and brief a man named Jake from the American government.”
“So you made certain assumptions,” Jake said. “Understandable.” He was sure what he didn’t want these two to know, but not sure how much he should tell them. That came with trust. “Is your boss gray at the temples? About your height? Wears cheap suits from Belarus?”
The two KAPO officers looked confused.
First, Jake pointed to the woman and said, “Take a quick glance through the main window, across the small square at a man reading a newspaper. Is that your boss?”
Kadri did a nice job of barely looking. Then she turned back to Jake and said, “No. Our boss has longer hair, always combed nice. And he is. . .” She struggled for the right word in English. “Husky?”
Good enough. “Have you seen that man before?” Jake asked.
She shifted her head side to side. “No.”
Wonderful, Jake thought.
Now Hans looked past Jake for a second and then also shook his head. “I have never seen him either.”
Jake said, “He’s Russian SVR.”
“Are you sure?” Hans asked.
“Yes. He followed you here.”
Hans gave Jake a look of concern and disappointment. “I’m sorry,” he said.
“That’s all right,” Jake said. “Now we know at least one of them.”
“There are more?” Kadri asked.
“Of course,” Jake said. “As far as I know, they still travel in pairs. They’re like rats. If you see one, there will always be more. Here’s the plan to smoke out the other one.”
Jake gave them a plan to follow and hoped they would do a better job than they had when they let his son get captured.
6
Jake was using the two KAPO officers as bait. He needed to know who else was involved.
First, Kadri and Hans moved outside to the front of the coffee shop, standing for a moment to discuss nothing at all. While they did this, Jake observed the SVR officer across the square, who seemed to be indifferent to the KAPO officers, but was actually viewing them over the top of his newspaper. The man was good, Jake thought. He had positioned himself so he simply had to move his eyes to observe the Estonians.
Then Hans and Kadri nodded to each other. Hans went one way and Kadri the other, the stork to the left and the jock to the right. Now the SVR officer had a choice to make. Who would he follow? He had followed Hans to the coffee shop. Jake guessed he would go after Kadri and leave Hans for his partner. Or, better yet, knowing he had been made by Jake, the SVR officer would abandon the chase altogether. Perhaps they already knew everything they needed to know about Hans and Kadri, and this entire mission this morning was a trap to grab intel on Jake. That’s what he suspected.
So, Jake got up and wandered to the front door. Instead of heading around the corner and going back to his rental car, he drifted across the square as if he were a tourist again, wandering into stores to look at useless trinkets.
Glancing out to the opposite side of the square, he finally saw the second SVR officer. She was a non-descript younger woman with a professional camera and a zoom lens. But she swept the zoom from her chest as she rotated her upper body, making sure to catch Jake in her lens. Of course the lens was useless for such a small square. The woman had short black curly hair, and she wore faded jeans torn at both knees. Her legs were stout like a long distance bicycle rider. And Jake guessed she held her gun inside her small camera bag or her purse.
Now Jake had his direction. He left the souvenir shop and crossed the square, realizing that the older SVR officer had left his position. That was a nice move. So Jake wandered right past the photographer, making sure to memorize the woman’s features. Closer up he could see that she had high cheek bones and sky blue eyes, which were not made that way with contacts.
The female SVR officer ignored Jake as she viewed the screen on the back of her camera.
Jake stepped slowly down the narrow lane back toward his car. Periodically he would stop to view postcards and other items again, making sure to talk with shop mercha
nts and smiling. Tallinn had become a huge destination for tourists from America and other parts of Europe. Finns crossed on ferries for the day to shop for cheap booze and cigarettes. Jake made sure to seem like an Austrian, a Canadian, an American, and a German, depending on the person with whom he spoke. That way nobody would remember him as just one thing.
The SVR officer was still on his tail, but doing a decent job of covering her tracks. Jake was smart enough to know that the older SVR officer could have rounded the church and waited for him to come out on the other side of the main square.
He got a text and checked his phone to see that Kadri declared herself free and clear. Jake smiled, pretending something was funny. Then he typed back that he had a new tail, the woman with the big camera. Now he continued wandering toward the south entrance of the Old Town.
As he reached the main ring road around the outskirts of the Old Town, a dark green VW Passat pulled up fast and Jake got in to the front passenger seat. When he turned to buckle his seat, he saw the SVR officer about a block back toward the main square, not sure what to do. So she obviously shot off a couple of photos as Jake’s car pulled away.
He turned to the driver, the young female KAPO officer, the jock, and said, “Nice work.”
“It was nothing,” Kadri said.
“Where is Hans?”
“On his way to the cruise terminal,” she said. “He will stay there until we pick him up. Where are we going?”
“Well, this car is burned,” Jake said, as he kept an eye on the side mirror to make sure they were not being followed. “So, we wind back around and pick up my rental. Turn left.”
She did as he said, cutting the wheel and turning down a narrow residential street.
He kept having her turn until they came to the street where Jake left his rental Skoda. She parked behind his car and shut down the engine.
“Now what?” she asked.
“Do you have a go bag in the trunk?” he asked.
