“Interesting. Perhaps the Brits have a program similar to ours. Maybe Olivia was recruited by her mother years ago and then sent through a training program similar to what you went through.”
“You don’t think the whole thing was a lie, do you? She is your daughter, right? And my sister? She didn’t just come to Seattle to get information on us, did she?”
Michael shook his head. “That part of her story does check out. She’s your sister. There’s no doubt about that.”
“How do you know?”
“I had a DNA sample tested. I got a strand of her hair from a brush in your bathroom.”
Kiana let out a large sigh of relief. She had really enjoyed having a sister so it would have broken her heart if she had found out Olivia wasn’t her sister after all. But at the same time, she was deeply concerned about her and she really wanted to know what was going on.
“Even if she is an agent, why wouldn’t she be responding to our texts right now?”
“I’m not certain. But I did verify she did not return to Sydney like she told us. Holley returned to Sydney, but Olivia boarded a plane that was headed to Los Angeles.”
“Why would she go to Los Angeles?”
“I’m not certain. And it’s highly possible LA wasn’t her final destination. It may have just been a layover before she caught a connecting flight to somewhere else. I have a contact in LA looking into it but he hasn’t been able to find anything yet.”
As he spoke, Kiana sat back in her chair. She definitely wasn’t happy about what she had just learned. Maybe having an older sister wasn’t quite as good as she had originally thought.
Chapter 51
The next morning, Michael, Christine, and Kiana took a flight from San Diego to Mexico City, then another from Mexico City to San José, Costa Rica. It was a long trip and it reminded Kiana of her flight with Christine to Thailand. Along the way, the three of them discussed their upcoming mission but Kiana had a hard time concentrating and instead her mind kept wandering back to Olivia. She still hadn’t received any text messages from her, but wherever she was, and whatever she was doing, Kiana hoped she was safe. In addition, she hoped Michael’s contacts would dig up some information about her soon.
Kiana had never been to a country in Latin America before, including Costa Rica, but she was immediately impressed. San José was a lush, tropical city of approximately three hundred thousand people and it was bustling with activity. Their contact was a USIA agent named Francisco Moratalla, who was a man in his late forties with slick, black hair and a pockmarked face. He met them at the airport and took them to a car in a nearby parking lot. From there, he drove them to a marina on the coast where he had rented a small boat for their use.
“I’ve already taken some cursory trips around the island and there’s no doubt something is going on out there.”
“Like what?” Michael asked.
“I’m not sure. There’s not a whole lot visible from the water, other than a small dock on the northern shore. In addition, there must be an airstrip somewhere inland because I saw several small planes head that way early yesterday. And a helicopter. It’s impossible to see much more, however, since there are sentries posted at numerous spots along the island’s coastline.”
“Interesting,” Christine said. “We’d like to get onto the island without being seen, if possible. Any ideas?”
Moratalla nodded, then pointed at three wetsuits that were lying in the back of the boat. Next to the wetsuits were various pieces of diving equipment, including masks, oxygen tanks, respirators, and flippers. “That’s what those are for. There’s a spot on the island’s southernmost tip that’s rarely patrolled, probably because the jungle on that section of the island is so dense the sentries think it’s inaccessible. I’ll get you as close to it as I can, then the three of you can swim from there. Once you’re on the island you should be able to make your way north, through the jungle, toward the airstrip and whatever else Voronov has hiding out there.”
“How will we get off of the island afterward?” Michael asked.
“Send me word and I’ll pick you up. At the same spot where I dropped you off.”
He fired up the boat and off they went. It took them about two hours to get to the island and when it finally came into view they immediately started putting their SCUBA gear on. Moratalla angled the boat toward the island’s southernmost tip and stopped briefly when they got to a particular spot a ways off shore. They didn’t want to risk being seen so they wasted no time and the three of them fell into the water and made their way underwater toward shore. To Kiana, the water was amazingly warm, relatively calm, and pretty clear, so making their way through it was no problem at all. It took them about thirty minutes to reach the shore and as soon as they did, they rushed into the surrounding foliage, removed their wetsuits and SCUBA gear, and changed back into their normal clothes which they had brought along in waterproof storage baggies. Once they had changed, they hid their wetsuits and SCUBA gear in a large, hollow log they found nearby (they would need them once they returned), then proceeded north into the jungle. Kiana couldn’t help but chuckle as she felt an intense wave of heat and humidity wrap itself around her. It was hard to believe that less than forty-eight hours earlier, she had been racing down a snow-covered mountain in British Columbia, Canada.
Travel was tough. As Moratalla had said, the jungle on that part of the island was amazingly dense and making their way through it was easier said than done, especially since they didn’t have a machete or anything else to help them cut their way through. In addition, the canopy of branches above them was so thick it blocked out the majority of the sun’s light, so they were basically walking through complete darkness. To Kiana, it was pretty spooky, especially since she kept seeing dark shapes (which she assumed were monkeys), darting around in the branches above them. At one point, it finally got so dark she decided to put on her sunglasses (the ones Walters had given her), and then, thanks to their night vision feature, she could make her away along much easier.
Their biggest challenge, however, happened about an hour after they reached the island. They came to a large, stone cliff. It was at least a hundred feet tall and it seemed to stretch on endlessly in each direction, so they had no choice but to try to scale it. Normally it would have been no problem since they were all skilled climbers, but unfortunately they had no climbing equipment with them, not even a rope. As such, they had to climb it freestyle and it was a complete beast. Its face was extremely ragged and uneven, with lots of footholds and things to grab onto, which was good, but it was also moss-covered, damp, and extremely slippery, which was bad. And parts of it were brittle. About fifty feet up a chunk of it broke away under Kiana’s foot but luckily she had a firm grip on a nearby branch and was able to keep herself from falling. At another point, about seventy feet up, she slipped completely and actually started to fall for a few feet but once again was able to grab onto something and save herself. But the biggest problem they faced, by far, was when they got to the top. Kiana and Michael had made it all of the way up but Christine was still a couple of feet behind. Without warning, the side of the cliff broke away under her and she actually fell about ten feet before she was able to grab onto a branch and save herself. Unfortunately, however, there was no way for her to pull herself back up from there since the cliff was much too steep and much too slick at that point.
Kiana knew they had to think of something and they had to think of it fast. Christine was completely helpless since there was no way for her to go either up or down and she was tiring quickly since she was hanging from the branch by one arm. Michael was leaning over the cliff’s edge in a desperate attempt to reach down and grab her, but Kiana could already tell his efforts were going to be fruitless. Christine was simply too far away for him to be able to reach her.
Then an idea came to mind. She pulled her phone from her pocket and pushed the noose button. Slowly but surely, its cord unwound from within.
“Use th
is.” She handed it to Michael. He grabbed it and lowered it down to Christine. She reached out with her one free arm, grabbed it and wrapped it around her hand the best she could.
And then they pulled her up. It took both of them, Kiana and Michael working in unison side-by-side, and they were both sweating profusely by the time they were done but they were able to pull her to safety. Christine’s hand was torn up pretty badly in the process and it was bleeding in spots where the cord had cut into it but she was thankful nonetheless. Had she fallen from that height she would have been killed for sure.
They took several minutes to rest and recover, wrapped up Christine’s hand the best they could using one of her socks, then moved along, once again making their way through the jungle to the north. Luckily, and much to Kiana’s delight, the underbrush seemed to be thinning a little as they moved further along and as such travel started to get a little easier. Kiana did notice an increase in mosquitos, however, and she grimaced as one bit her on the side of the arm.
About twenty minutes later they came to a large swamp and were forced to wade their way through it. Its water was murky and brown and to Kiana it was about as gross as she could imagine. She immediately started to think of her beloved purple bubble bath, sitting at home in Mill Creek, and she decided she would never take it for granted again.
She was about half way across the swamp and was chest deep in the water when a frightening thought came to her mind.
“Do they have crocodiles in Costa Rica?”
“I’m not certain,” Michael said. “Maybe.”
She wasn’t too happy with that answer. She took a quick look around, at the water all around her, then quickened her pace a little. As far as she was concerned, she was going to get out of that water as fast as she could. And she was quite relieved when she finally made it to the far side and was once again safely up on dry ground. But unfortunately, her relief was short lived. She looked down, at her right arm, and saw it was covered with small, black leeches. The things were absolutely wretched and she started to freak out the minute she saw them clinging to her skin.
“Get ‘em off, get ‘em off, get ‘em off.”
Michael grabbed her by the arm and started plucking them away one by one. Physically, they hadn’t hurt her in any way but they left small marks all over her skin.
“So far,” she said, “I’m not liking this island too much.”
“Me, neither,” Christine said.
“I don’t know,” Michael said. “It could always be worse. We could be back at the Space Needle.” There was a small, wry smile on his face as he said it and he was clearly trying to be funny, to lift their spirits a little, but neither Kiana nor Christine was amused, not in the least. Especially Kiana.
Without another word, they moved on. Much to Kiana’s relief, about an hour later they finally made it to their destination.
Voronov’s compound.
Chapter 52
Voronov’s compound was a series of concrete and metal buildings, some the size of large warehouses, surrounded by a tall chain link fence with razor wire along its top. There was an access gate on one side with numerous guards stationed all around it. A small, dirt road ran from the gate down the middle of the complex. There was a small airstrip on the far side with several planes parked in covered stalls. The entire place was sparsely populated, mostly with guards and other types of workers, but also with numerous men in white overcoats who appeared to be scientists or technicians of some sort.
Kiana, Michael, and Christine crouched on a distant hill behind a large, moss covered log, where they could see the complex clearly but at the same time could not be seen by its guards. Michael was using a camera to photograph as much of it as possible, and Kiana and Christine were using their sunglasses, with their built-in telescopic lenses, to zoom in and scan the place for anything of interest.
Christine pointed at the largest of the buildings. “That far building looks like a research facility of some sort, maybe a laboratory. The majority of the men who enter it are wearing those white overcoats.”
“What type of laboratory?” Kiana asked.
“No idea. Since we’re in Latin America I’d guess drugs but you never know.”
She pointed at another building, one that was much smaller and appeared to be a residence of some sort.
“The building to the side of it, that’s probably Voronov’s residence. The rest of the people here probably live in barracks, but of course the leader has got to have something nice.”
Kiana nodded. It was clear Christine had done this type of surveillance work before. Probably many times.
Not to be outdone, Michael added to Christine’s assessment. “There’s something odd about that airstrip. Usually an airstrip like it would only have a few planes and no more than ten at most. I wonder why Voronov needs so -”
He never got a chance to finish his sentence. Kiana interrupted him. She had zoomed her glasses in on a spot on the compound’s far corner, directly across from them, and she couldn’t believe what she had found.
“What in the world is that?”
She was looking at what appeared to be a holding pen of some sort. It was made of chain link fence and numerous tall, metal posts. Inside, milling aimlessly about, appeared to be at least fifty different people. At first Kiana thought they might be prisoners, maybe people Voronov had captured and was holding for some unknown reason, but then she zoomed in on them a little closer and her heart stopped.
They weren’t people. They were monsters. They looked like something straight out of a horror movie. They were rotting corpses, in various states of decay, and one was missing his left arm (upon closer examination, Kiana realized he was carrying it in his right hand). The creatures wandered aimlessly around the cage and they hissed menacingly whenever they got within a few feet of one another.
“How is this possible?”
“It’s got to be Zander,” Christine said. “Beckman told us he had found a way to reanimate a dead body. He must be here and he must be doing it.”
“Why?”
“I have no idea. But it’s really freaking me out.”
“You’re not the only one. I think I’m about to get sick.”
Much to their surprise and disbelief, Michael’s response was completely different. He didn’t seem fazed in any way by the creatures’ grotesque appearance. If anything, he seemed curious. “I’ve got to take a closer look at this. I’m going down there so I can get some better shots to send to Beckman.”
“Knock your socks off,” Kiana said. “But I’m staying up here as far away from those things as I can.”
“Me, too,” Christine said.
“That’s fine,” Michael said. “Keep an eye out for me and send word if anyone heads my way.”
They nodded and he made his way down the side of the hill, just out of sight of the nearest guards. Once he got to the fence’s edge, he made his way along it and actually disappeared from view for a few seconds as he entered an area where the foliage had grown all of the way up to the fence’s edge.
“What do you think Voronov and Zander are doing in there?” Kiana asked. “You don’t think they’re making more of those things, do you?”
She looked back at the creatures and actually got goose bumps on her arms as she watched one of them stumble its way along. Its leg had been damaged in some way and it was dragging it along as it walked. Undoubtedly, it was the scariest, most grotesque thing she had ever seen. Another of the creatures came into view and it appeared to be in the process of gnawing on its own hand.
“I’m not certain,” Christine said. “They could be –”
She never got a chance to finish her sentence.
“Don’t move. Raise your hands, now. Both of you.”
Kiana couldn’t believe it and she couldn’t explain how, but a pair of the compound’s guards had spotted them, circled around, and snuck up on them from behind. She felt the barrel of a gun as it was pressed against the back of her hea
d.
Much to her chagrin, they had been captured.
Chapter 53
Kiana and Christine were searched, bound, and led by a group of Voronov’s guards into his compound. Kiana was both nervous and afraid, and reasonably so, since she had never been in a situation like that before and she did not know what was going to happen next. One thing, however, brought her a tiny bit of solace: Voronov’s guards hadn’t seen Michael. Luckily, he had been down the hill, out of their line of sight when they had first appeared. As such, he hadn’t been captured and there was a chance he would eventually be able to find a way to rescue them.
They were led through the compound’s main gate, down its central road, and into the building Christine had speculated was Voronov’s residence. Its interior was as drab as its exterior, with simple furniture and few adornments of any type, and Kiana instantly got the impression Voronov was a man who did not concern himself with trivial things like that. They were led through a small entrance hall and into a medium-sized office. Three people stood around a desk at the far side of the room, looking at some paperwork that was spread out on the desk in front of them, but their discussion came to an abrupt end as Kiana and Christine were led (quite forcibly) into the room. All three turned to face them at once. The first was an elderly man with a thick, gray beard and short hair, and he was dressed in an old-fashioned Soviet-style military uniform. Kiana surmised this was Voronov. The second was a tall, lean man with black hair and a permanent scowl on his face. Kiana had no idea who he was but assumed he must be one of Voronov’s assistants or bodyguards.
But the person of the most interest, at least as far as Kiana was concerned, was the third. That person was a young, attractive woman with long, ebony hair.
It was Olivia.
A million thoughts raced through Kiana’s mind the minute she saw her. How had this happened? What was Olivia doing here? Why was she here? Like Kiana and Christine, had she been captured? Or was she working with Voronov? And if she was, why?
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