“Parker, are you so upset that you can’t think straight?”
He stopped and faced her. “Maybe,” he said, his voice shaking. “I’m scared to death that I’m wrong and we’re wasting time that should be spent doing something else to find him. But I don’t know what that is. If we don’t see anything at the creek, we’ll come back and file a missing person report with the sheriff ’s department.”
“I’m fine with that,” Layla said.
Layla sat in one of the seats behind the steering console while Parker started the boat’s motor and cast off. They pulled slowly away from the dock and headed toward the river.
“Have you been out on the water at night before?” she asked.
“Plenty of times. As long as we stay in the main channel there shouldn’t be a problem, and the sonar doesn’t need daylight to work.”
Parker didn’t push the throttle forward but proceeded at a slow pace. From time to time, he shined the flashlight along the bank. There weren’t any other boats on the water. Once, the light picked up the reflection from the eyes of a deer that was walking along the edge of the water. The animal froze until the light started moving away.
“Your grandson’s talents haven’t gone unnoticed,” Krieger continued. “It was a surprise when it surfaced. We didn’t realize these sorts of things could be passed down through the generations. Based on the information we obtained, his new employer is proud of Parker’s ability, even though he had no idea how significant the information was to me.”
Frank gritted his teeth and kept his mouth closed.
“So here are your options,” Krieger said. “You can cooperate with us and hope we let you go, or you can refuse to help, in which case both you and your grandson will suffer the consequences.”
“Give me a sheet of paper and a pen,” Frank replied after hesitating for a few moments. “And free my hands so I can write.”
“Tell us. We’ll write it down for you.”
“That’s not how it works with me,” Frank answered.
Krieger nodded to Gerhardt, who cut the tie. Frank rubbed his wrists. Gerhardt handed Frank a pen and paper and stepped back.
“The items taken from the house in Siena are in the Ukraine,” Frank said to Krieger. “They were seized by the Soviet commander who interrogated your grandfather before ordering that he be shot. The Soviet officer later bought a chateau, and the treasures have been there ever since.”
“What is the officer’s name?” Krieger asked.
“I don’t know, and I suspect he’s dead. The property is in a secure location, and even if you present evidence, no Ukrainian court is going to order that the items be turned over to you.”
Frank began to sketch on the sheet of paper. Krieger stepped forward and peered over his shoulder.
“The chateau is near the place where a road, river, and train track intersect. The river flows down from the Carpathian Mountains in eastern Ukraine and is a tributary of the Dniester.” Frank continued to draw lines on the sheet of paper. Then he stopped and made a dot that he enlarged. “The chateau is near a town called Nad-something. The word is unfamiliar to me. The main structure for the residence has a brown roof and beside it is a large horse barn. That’s it.”
Krieger took the sheet of paper from Frank and studied it. “And are you sure you don’t know the name of the Soviet officer?”
Frank hesitated. “Kuznet—” he started to say, then stopped. “I’m not sure.”
“Kuznetsov.” Krieger completed the word with a shocked expression on his face. “It means ‘blacksmith.’ He was a colonel in the unit that captured and killed my father.”
“What do you think?” Mueller asked Krieger.
“This is enough,” Krieger said. “We should be able to find it. If the courts are closed to us, then we’ll have to use alternate measures.”
Krieger looked down at Frank. “How can we succeed in recovering the treasures?”
“You won’t,” Frank replied flatly. “But I’ve done what you asked, and I’d like to go back to my home and live out my life in peace. You don’t have to worry about me talking to anyone else. I don’t want to think or talk about Siena ever again.”
“Very well,” Krieger said, motioning to one of the young men. “Thank you for your help. I’m sorry for my threats, but often the ends justify the means.”
“Conrad and I have both heard that argument before,” Frank replied, looking at the former private.
Parker pulled back the throttle on the boat and turned closer to shore. He handed the flashlight to Layla.
“It’s not far to the creek,” he said. “But all these inlets look alike in the dark. Shine the light along the bank until I see the right spot.”
The light illuminated an area of marsh and reeds. A heron that had been fishing in the dark slowly flapped its wings as it took off.
“Can herons fish in the dark?” Layla asked.
“Yes, there’s a whole species of night herons.”
The light moved past the marshy area to an opening.
“There’s the creek,” Parker said. “Please shine the light higher.”
Layla directed the beam upward.
“Oh my—” Parker began.
“It’s a boat,” Layla said. “A big one.”
“Lower the light!” Parker ordered. “And turn it off.”
Parker killed the running lights for the boat, and Layla quickly flipped the switch on the flashlight. The night went dark except for tiny lines of light that were now visible from the shaded windows of the vessel in the creek.
“Do you think Opa is on that boat?” Layla asked in a whisper that was unnecessary given their distance from the creek.
“Maybe. I don’t know. I hope so. I hope not,” Parker said in rapid succession.
“What are we going to do?”
“Wait,” Parker replied.
“Why?”
“Because that’s all I know to do.”
“How long?”
“Please don’t push me,” Parker said in frustration. “I’m doubting myself anyway.”
“I’m sorry. It’s just—”
“I’m worried about him too,” Parker said, finishing her thought.
They waited in the dark. There was no breeze, and the boat sat motionless in the water. Parker moved to the bow. Layla joined him. Together they stared into the night. There was no sign of activity on the boat moored in the creek. Then a door on the vessel opened, and Parker saw a young man come out onto an open deck area toward the stern. He strained his eyes in an effort to see more clearly. Another figure emerged.
Parker didn’t have to squint to identify who it was.
Frank took a deep breath as they stepped into the night air and quickly looked around. It was a cloudy night with virtually no moon, which made it tougher than he’d expected to identify the yacht’s location. The vessel had slipped into a creek off the main channel of the river, but there were a score of places that fit that description. He followed the brown-haired man to the rear of the yacht. The man swung a short gangway over and lowered it onto the small boat that had brought them over from the shore. He stepped back and motioned for Frank to go first.
Up close, Frank could see that the small boat was the kind of craft often hung from the deck of a large yacht. It was finished in smooth wood with two short bench seats and a single seat where the pilot sat to steer it by moving a rudder pole. The man signaled for Frank to sit on one of the benches and then started the boat’s oversized motor. Frank wasn’t sure how far they’d have to go up the creek to the spot where they’d boarded the small boat for the transfer to the yacht, but he estimated the previous ride had lasted less than five minutes. To his surprise, the man at the tiller turned away from the creek and toward the main channel of the river. There was a small red light on the bow of the craft.
“How far is it to the place we’ll take out?” he asked in German.
“Not far,” the man replied. “There’s a boat ra
mp there. That’s where your car is waiting for you.”
Instead of hugging the shoreline, the boat ventured farther into the channel. They were near one of the widest parts of the river between New Bern and the Pamlico Sound. Now Frank knew exactly where they were. The creek where the yacht stood anchored was a familiar place. He and Lenny had fished for trout there within the last month. The yacht was anchored about six miles downriver from the dock where Frank kept his boat.
It was only a few hundred yards to the boat ramp. When they got closer, Frank could see the ramp, which was illuminated by a single light on a ten-foot pole. His car wasn’t in sight.
“I don’t see my car,” Frank called out to the man at the rudder.
The man didn’t answer. Frank swung his legs over the bench so that he faced the brown-haired man controlling the boat. The man hit the kill switch on the motor, and the boat quickly drifted to a stop. They were still a hundred yards from shore.
“This is where you get out,” the man said.
Frank leaned forward, but in the dark he couldn’t make out the expression on the young man’s face.
“It’s a hundred yards to the bank,” Frank said.
“Get in the water, or I will throw you in,” the man replied matter-of-factly. “Your car is already on the bottom of the river at the end of the ramp. You’re going to join it.”
Frank hesitated for a moment, but then he lunged forward and tried to get his hands on the man’s throat so he could push him over the stern. Frank’s hands got only as far as the man’s upper chest when he felt a viselike grip on his wrists. The man sharply twisted Frank’s arms in opposite directions, and Frank cried out in pain. The next thing he knew, Frank was being pushed toward the left side of the boat. He managed to jerk his left arm free and land a feeble blow against the side of the man’s head. A more violent twist of his right arm caused Frank to cry out again in pain as the brittle bones in his arm cracked and snapped in protest.
In one smooth movement, the man in the boat hoisted Frank over the side and dumped him headfirst into the water. Wearing clothes and shoes, Frank immediately sank beneath the surface. Sharp pain again shot through his right arm as he flailed about trying to turn around, and he gagged on a mouthful of water just before his head broke into the air. He choked as he came up beside the boat and tried to kick off his shoes. Looking up, he saw the man in the boat with an oar raised in the air. The man slammed the oar directly down onto Frank’s forehead.
And everything went black.
CHAPTER 42
Parker gently eased the boat forward, which slightly decreased the sound generated by the engine as the prop engaged the water. None of the running lights were on, and he kept the bow pointed toward the red light of the small boat that they’d been following since it left the large vessel anchored in the creek. Parker had instantly recognized his grandfather’s gait as the older man walked toward the yacht’s stern. The small boat had stopped in the water. Layla came back to the console and joined him.
“Can you see anything else?” Parker asked her.
“No.”
The light on the small boat was beginning to move back and forth.
“Someone stood up and the two people are close together,” Layla said.
That was it. Parker threw the throttle wide open, and the skiff raised up out of the water as it shot forward.
“What are you going to do?” Layla called out.
“When I say so, turn on the light.”
The boat bounced up and down on the water as it reached top speed. The light on the small craft continued to bob up and down as they got closer and closer.
“Now!” Parker called out.
Layla turned on the powerful lantern. The beam shot across the water and framed a man with an oar in his hands who was about to thrust it down into the water. When the light hit him, he looked up in shock as Parker and Layla bore down on him.
“Drop the light and hold on!” Parker yelled at Layla. “I’m going to ram him!”
Layla grabbed a metal bar that ran alongside the console. Parker flipped on the boat’s main lights. The man standing in the boat took a step toward the side to dive overboard, but it was too late. Parker crashed into the bow of the boat and spun it around in the water. Layla lost her grip on the bar and slammed against the seats behind the console. She staggered to her feet.
“Are you okay?” Parker called out as he jerked the wheel to the right and sent the boat into a sharp turn.
“Yes.”
“Where’s the lantern? Opa is somewhere in the water.”
Layla dropped to her knees, retrieved the lantern from beneath the rear seats, and turned it on. The front section of the wooden boat had been ripped off, and what was left pointed up in the air as the weight of the motor dragged it down. The light danced across the water. Parker raced up to the wreckage and cut back the throttle.
“I don’t see anyone!” she called out.
Parker left the console and ran to the bow of the boat. All he could see to the right were pieces of wood floating in the water.
“Shine it over there!” he called out, pointing to the left.
Layla did as he directed, and Parker saw a flash of color about ten feet away. Without waiting for a second look, he kicked off his shoes and dived into the water. He came up from his dive and saw nothing. The water was completely opaque, but he lowered his head and kicked down a few feet, extending his right hand in front of him. His hand touched cloth, and he grabbed it with his fist and kicked toward the surface. His face barely came above the water, but he managed to turn his head and see who it was he’d grabbed.
It was his opa.
“Throw me the lifesaver,” he sputtered to Layla, who was now standing where he’d been at the bow of the boat.
The circular ring hung on the front of the console and had always been more decoration than anything else. Parker went beneath the water as the weight of his grandfather pulled him under. Flailing with his free arm and kicking as hard as he could, he again reached the surface. His hand touched the life ring, and he hooked his arm around it.
“Pull us in!” he called out.
They were only a few feet from the boat. Layla tugged on the rope and brought them to the side.
“Get us around to the ladder,” Parker said as he repositioned his arm around his grandfather’s chest.
Layla dragged them to the rear of the boat.
“Cut the engine!” Parker yelled as they got closer. “It could chew us up.”
“Where?” Layla asked in panic. She disappeared, and a few seconds later the engine died.
Parker kicked his way to the rear of the boat and put his hand on the lower rung of the ladder. Layla was looking down and crying.
“He’s unconscious,” Parker managed. “I need your help getting him out of the water.”
Layla reached down with both arms and grabbed Frank’s right arm. Parker felt the older man move slightly.
“He’s alive! Hold tight.”
While Layla held on to the right arm, Parker scrambled up the ladder. He then turned and grabbed his grandfather’s left arm.
“Pull,” he said.
Together they dragged Frank onto the rear of the boat. Parker immediately dropped to his knees and began to perform CPR. Tears streamed down Layla’s face and fell from her cheeks as she knelt beside them. Frank coughed weakly and water ran out the corner of his mouth.
“Opa! Opa!” Parker called out as he sat up for a few seconds.
Layla touched the old man’s white hair. Parker leaned over and blew another breath into his grandfather’s lungs. Frank sputtered and choked again, followed by a deeper breath. He began breathing on his own.
“Thank God,” Layla said.
Parker relaxed. Watching the slow but steady rising and falling of his grandfather’s chest was the most beautiful sight of Parker’s entire life.
“Parker!” Layla screamed. “The ladder!”
Parker’s head shot a
round. The man who had been in the small boat had both hands on the bottom rung of the ladder. Blood was pouring from a gash on the side of his head. Instinctively, Parker raised his right foot and slammed it into the man’s face. The man lost his grip on the ladder and fell back into the water.
“Hold on to Opa!” Parker yelled as he jumped up and started the boat’s motor.
Parker threw the throttle forward. Layla had her arms wrapped around Frank to keep him from sliding off the rear of the boat.
“Where is the other man?” Parker called out.
“I don’t see him,” Layla said.
Parker turned the wheel of the boat in a tight spin.
“What are you going to do?” Layla asked. “Run over him?”
“Shine the light and find him,” Parker replied, grim-faced.
After a moment’s hesitation, Layla turned on the lantern and shined the beam on the water.
“There he is,” she said, pointing to the end of the light.
The young man was slowly moving his hands across the top of the water. Parker headed directly for him but swerved at the last moment and stopped the boat. Grabbing a life jacket from beneath the console, he threw it in the water. The life jacket landed a couple of feet from the man, who managed to reach out and grasp it with his hand.
Parker hit the throttle and sped away.
Parker and Layla sat beside each other on orange plastic chairs in the waiting area of the ER. Parker’s clothes were still damp from his unexpected swim in the Neuse River. Layla’s cell phone rang.
“It’s my father,” she said, glancing down at the number.
“Please, you tell him what happened to Opa,” Parker said. “I don’t want to talk to him.”
Layla answered and listened for a moment before she left the waiting area and stepped outside. Parker closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall behind the chair. Several minutes later a woman’s voice caused him to open his eyes.
“Mr. House?” she called out.
The Witnesses Page 34
