After failing to catch the waiter’s eye, Pavel turned his attention back to Valentina.
“The authorities are always ready to blame the Muslims for any act of terror. But what about our kidnapping demands, has there been any progress made there?”
“Your abduction of Polina has made her grandmother agree to our terms.”
“The old bitch agreed already? That is good. I thought we would have to harm the child first?”
“No, as I told you, the woman loves Polina more than anything. Once we prove to her that Polina is well, she will go on live TV, admit to treason, and resign, which will open the way for our man to take her position.”
Pavel smiled, as his mood brightened.
The waiter brought their food. While glaring at the man, Pavel asked him for another beer. The man returned his glare with a plastic smile and walked over to talk to the barmaid again. Pavel cut into his steak, as he waited for his second drink to arrive, but the waiter just kept on talking and laughing with the barmaid.
As Pavel sighed in exasperation, a thought occurred to him.
“Valentina, you could have spoken to me in code over the phone. Something else is on your mind.”
“We need money, Pavel. Revolutions are fueled by passion, but funded by rubles.”
“Isn’t that why we entered the drug trade?”
“It is, but defending ourselves against other dealers and the cost of bribery eat up a large percentage of the profit. We need another stream of income, and I have found one that involves little risk.”
“Such as?”
“White slavery, and the girl, Polina, she will be our first transaction.”
Pavel was about to respond when a miracle occurred. The waiter had returned with his beer, which he sat down atop the table, while spilling some, of course. As the waiter walked away, Pavel responded to Valentina’s last statement.
“You want to sell the girl? But, Valentina, she has seen me and the Turks.”
“It doesn’t matter. Where Polina is going, no one will care about or listen to anything she says. Her family’s wealth and status will be meaningless. She’ll be a sex slave for a man who could buy and sell her entire family.”
Pavel drank half of his second beer, sat the mug on the table, and gave the proposition some thought.
“How much will we get for the girl?”
Valentina said a figure and Pavel looked doubtful.
“Why so much money for one girl?”
“You’ve seen her, she is beautiful, blonde, and a virgin. At least, she’d better still be a virgin. If the Turks touched her I will kill them myself.”
“The Turks are not the type to rape. If she was a virgin, she has remained one.”
“That girl has never known a man, trust me, I can tell.”
Pavel decided that he agreed with Valentina’s new plan. He finished cutting his steak, took a bite, and found that it was excellent. After eating in silence for a few moments, Pavel made an observation about the change in plans.
“At least this way, the girl will live. I was not looking forward to killing her.”
“Yes, but these new partners, they are as dangerous as the men we buy our drugs from. If we do not deliver Polina in two days, there will be severe consequences.”
“You mean they will try to kill us?”
“Exactly, but they’ll also pay us for any other girls we bring them of a similar quality.”
Pavel sighed.
“The things we do for revolution, trafficking in little girls for perverts. It’s sickening.”
“I agree, but we promised ourselves a long time ago that we would let nothing get in our way, not even our own sense of right and wrong. If something advances our cause, then, it is right. In the end, we will honor mother and father.”
Pavel went back to eating as Valentina did the same, but she was a vegetarian, and rarely ate more than small portions. Several minutes after Valentina had finished her meal, Pavel pushed his empty plate aside.
“When I see the girl tomorrow, I’ll make sure that she’s treated better after I make the video of her we need. Where will the exchange take place?”
“Where she is now, at the lake. They’ll arrive on a helicopter.”
Pavel wrinkled his brow, as those arrangements surprised him.
“There is a blizzard coming. They say we’re getting over two feet of snow tomorrow, Valentina. Most helicopters can’t land in two feet of snow.”
“If it’s not feasible then they will arrive on snowmobiles and take her to the aircraft. Cover your face if you’d like, but I gave them your name. Pavel is a common enough name. There will be two men, while you and the Turks will be three. I expect no difficulties, these are professionals. You give them the girl and they’ll give you the money in cash. It will be euros, not rubles.”
“All right, and we can certainly use the money.”
Valentina held up her glass for a toast.
“It is finally happening, Pavel. A new Russia is on the horizon.”
Pavel clinked his mug against her glass. There was nothing that could stop them now.
While flying in a private jet towards Barnaul, Russia, Jacques Durand went over the latest reports out of Moscow.
The two assassinations were disturbing enough, given that the victims were both members of The Russian Federation Council. However, the kidnapping of another member’s granddaughter hinted at a devious mind at work.
If the woman gave in to the kidnapper’s demands, it would ruin not only her reputation, but taint those around her. That was why she too hadn’t been murdered, ruining the woman would accomplish far more.
Although his agency wasn’t involved with the hunt for the kidnappers, Durand had asked to be kept apprised of any developments.
He tossed the reports onto the empty seat beside him and looked at the setting sun. His mind wasn’t on work, but rather, was filled with thoughts of a personal nature.
Sara Blake was missing, as the small plane she and Tanner had been on never arrived at its destination.
Search planes had flown over the missing aircraft’s most likely course, but had discovered nothing.
Durand felt his phone vibrate and discovered he had a text from a contact in Barnaul. The text informed him that a group of Australian mercenaries were said to have gone after Tanner. When the helicopter returned without the mercs, a much larger group went after him, but had yet to return.
Durand phoned his contact, a man named Karl, and asked for more details.
“There aren’t any specifics, Jacques, and understand, I got most of this secondhand from a topless dancer. It seems her bosses were on one of the other planes.”
“Planes? How many men went after Tanner?”
“At least twenty, but maybe more. I hate to say it, but I guess we just lost an asset.”
“I don’t like Tanner, but he is resourceful. It’s Sara Blake I’m concerned about.”
“Listen, Jacques, I’d like to do more, but they have me helping out on that kidnapping.”
“I thought that happened in Novosibirsk?”
“It did, but one of the dead assassins was traced to Barnaul. Facial recognition tied him to footage taken by CCTV cameras.”
“I’m not familiar with the area, Karl, what is south of Barnaul?”
“There are a few small communities, but it’s mostly open land.”
“That sounds like a good place to ambush someone.”
“You’re talking about Tanner and Blake, but I thought they were headed north?”
“That’s what I thought too, now I’m not so sure. Maybe the search planes were looking in the wrong area. Thank you, Karl, and good luck finding your kidnapped girl.”
“Thanks, and good luck to you too.”
Durand ended the call and took out his laptop to look up a map of the area south of Barnaul.
Karl had been correct. There were a few towns, and towards the southeast, there was only wilderness.
; Durand checked the weather forecast for the area and cursed when he saw how bad the storm was expected to be. It would not only make conditions brutal for anyone without shelter, but would also keep search planes grounded.
It didn’t matter, he decided, one way or another, he would search for Sara Blake. He cared for her too much to just sit on his hands and do nothing.
“The woman is involved with someone and half your age,” he whispered to himself, and while his mind listened, his heart paid no attention.
12
Senseless Violence
The following morning, inside the pit, Tanner readied the rifle as one of his tripwires was tugged. The “wire” was a single strand of rope. It was attached to two of the empty tin cans from the MRE, and they rattled together in warning.
Polina had been asleep, but when the jangling cans woke her, she scurried across the mattress and into Sara’s arms.
“They have found us,” Polina said in Russian. Sara didn’t speak the language, but understood the girl’s meaning, and felt her tremble.
Sara hugged the girl.
“We’ll be fine, Polina. There’s a chance it’s just animals of some type.”
Tanner had been listening with his head cocked.
“They are animals, maybe the wolves we’ve been hearing. I can hear several of them padding across the cover of the pit. They had stopped to sniff at the lid of the pit, but they’re moving on.”
“We have big wolves in Russia, Tanner, but they don’t attack,” Polina said, in English.
“The problem is, they’re headed toward the campsite. Those fools might shoot at them if they spot them.”
The words had barely left Tanner’s mouth when the gunfire began. Tanner climbed up the rope ladder and opened the lid over the pit enough to climb out. As he did so, fresh snow drifted in, along with sparse daylight and a rush of cold air.
“Can you see anything?” Sara asked.
“No, but I can hear that idiot, Gleb. He’s bragging about having shot three of the wolves.”
“Oh no, they kill the wolves?” Polina said.
“They’re saying one got away, and Matthews is telling them to move out.”
After brushing away his tracks, Tanner climbed back inside the pit and closed the lid.
“We’ll give them a few minutes to leave and then we’ll eat. Afterward, we’ll follow their footprints north. I’m sure they believe we’re in front of them.”
Tanner checked out the area before telling Sara and Polina to climb out of the pit. Along the shoreline, he found several wolves that had been shot to death. The thickening snow had already coated their bodies.
The fire had still been burning, causing Tanner to wonder if perhaps Matthews and his companions were planning to return. But, no, the careless fools had neglected to put out the flames. In a way, it was good, they could heat their own food faster.
Polina went up the rope ladder with no problem, but it was a struggle for Sara. Her knee had swollen overnight and it hurt each time she bent it.
“Maybe I should leave you and Polina inside the pit while I go get help,” Tanner said.
“No. I’m sick of being down there, and my knee will be fine. Although, I’ll need to move slower than yesterday, especially in this snow.”
Polina wept when she spotted the wolves, who were nearly as large as she was. She then pointed at the ground.
“A set of paw prints lead into the trees. One of the wolves did get away.”
After they’d eaten, Sara angrily tossed snow onto the fire.
“The idiots! Killing wolves for no reason, I hope they become lost and freeze to death out here.”
“They may not get the chance,” Tanner said, and Sara took his meaning.
Polina seemed subdued.
She missed her family and worried about what they might be thinking happened to her. She also kept looking behind, as if she expected someone to be following them.
“You’re worried about the man who flew you here, aren’t you?” Tanner said.
“I think he is like you, very tough.”
“I hope he shows,” Tanner said.
“Why?” Polina asked. “So you can fight him?”
“No, but the weather is too bad to fly in, so that means he’ll have a snowmobile, which means we’ll have a snowmobile. If that happens, you’ll be back with your family faster.”
“That man frightens me, Tanner. He said he killed Stas, and Stas was very tough.”
“Tough in what way, was he a boxer?”
“Stas knew karate, judo, and he carried a gun too.”
“It sounds like the man that took you may be into martial arts as well.”
Polina wiped away tears.
“He said he broke Stas’ neck.”
Tanner filed that away as a reminder not to take the man lightly, whoever he was.
The man’s name was Pavel Krasotkin.
Pavel rode his snowmobile into the area and decided to cut across the lake. When he came upon the two airplanes mostly submerged beneath a thin layer of new ice, Pavel wondered what mayhem had taken place during his absence.
Surely the planes hadn’t both crashed in the same spot.
None of the snow-coated corpses scattered atop the lake belonged to the two Turks, and there was no trace of them at the campsite, nor of the girl, Polina. The pit puzzled him. Why bring the tent down inside it or rig it to be opened from within?
Finding the dead wolves saddened Pavel, as he had always admired the creatures, while the missing snowmobile had Pavel thinking the Turks had ridden off with the girl. Perhaps, upon seeing the strangers arrive in the planes, they thought it best to move to the secondary location.
The backup site consisted of decrepit old buildings abandoned after World War II. The tent offered better shelter from the storm than did those crumbling wood buildings, still, they might hide them from the view of strangers in planes.
While coming back from the pit, Pavel searched the area and found the snowmobile. The vehicle had been deliberately hidden and showed signs of damage by a projectile of some sort.
The gas tank was empty, and it had been nearly full. That was bad, as Pavel had planned to siphon fuel from the machine to use for his trip back.
He cursed himself for not filling up his tank before leaving, but he’d been so eager to film the girl, in order to offer her grandmother proof of life.
There was a hill nearby. Pavel scrambled up to the top of it and used the scope on his rifle to search. He gazed north, saw no sign that the snow had been disturbed, then moved the scope southward, as he looked for movement or shoeprints.
He spotted them walking along a path in the lowland, amid the trees, and caught a good look at the group once they strode through a small clearing. They were a party of six men, while the seventh figure appeared to be the girl, Polina. Pavel was too far away to make out facial features, but he saw a petite form and blond hair.
His mind raced. If the strangers had the girl, then where were the Turks?
Dead, they were dead, and the girl taken by the others.
Could this be the white slavers? Pavel thought. Maybe they came a day early and decided to take the girl without paying.
But no, one of the aircraft in the water had the markings of a rescue plane. But they couldn’t have been looking for the girl, and since when do rescue workers carry guns?
It was all perplexing, except for one fact.
Pavel had to get the girl back. If that meant he had to kill everyone with her, then so be it.
He had a satellite phone on his hip. The sophisticated device would work even during a snowstorm. Valentina told him it was to be used only for an emergency. Pavel thought this situation qualified as one.
When Valentina answered, Pavel heard both concern and annoyance in her tone.
“What is the problem?”
Pavel filled her in on the situation and heard silence on the other end.
He waited.
He was a
ware of Valentina’s ways and knew the silence meant that she was thinking things through and conjuring, sorting, then discarding possibilities. When she was certain of a response, then she would speak.
“It’s the buyers. They must be trying to take the girl early and cheat us.”
“Why would they bring two planes for one girl?”
“It’s possible they collided in the storm with the rescue plane and came down together atop a lake that couldn’t support the planes combined weight.”
Pavel looked out at the lake and doubted that scenario. The planes appeared to be too close together.
“I don’t think that is what occurred, but it is a puzzling scene. One thing we do know, the girl is gone and a group of armed men have her.”
“If you give me a few hours I can have two men there to help you, Bogdan and Ruslan.”
“Bogdan and Ruslan? They have no experience with something like this. No, I will handle the situation myself.”
“Are you certain, Pavel? I know your skills, but I worry.”
Pavel smiled.
“It’s because of my skills and training that you don’t need to worry. I will get the girl back and call you by sundown.”
“Good, but keep Polina alive. I know of another buyer for her in South America. The price they’ll pay is less, but at least they won’t kill our men and cheat us.”
“These buyers, Valentina, are you in danger from them?”
“One of them knows my face, that is all.”
“I’ll deal with them in time, for now, I must catch up with the ones who have taken the girl.”
“Be careful, Pavel, and don’t forget to call.”
“I’ll get the girl back, count on it.”
In Barnaul, Jacques Durand was frustrated.
There were lots of people with private planes and helicopters, but no one would risk going up during the snowstorm. Meanwhile, Sara was out there somewhere, possibly injured, freezing, and without food.
White Hell (A Tanner Novel Book 17) Page 7
