White Hell (A Tanner Novel Book 17)

by Remington Kane

  When Brenda took off to get help, she ran into the cop riding his own snowmobile. The cop had found the bodies of Gleb and Aleksandr and had already requested backup. When he saw the planes in the lake, the men Durand had shot, and the wounded Durand, he called everybody.

  Durand’s wounds consisted of three nasty bruises on his chest and a bump on the head. He had hit the lake ice hard as he went down and banged his forehead. The man he’d shot in the face was dead, but his partner survived, and was said to be asking for a deal.

  Sasha walked over, kissed Durand on the cheek, then hugged him.

  “Thank you for saving Brenda from those men.”

  “You’re welcome, but I don’t think they were after her. There’s something else going on here.”

  There was a flurry of activity out on the lake. There was a helicopter there. Snow had been shoved aside by the police to make a space for the craft to land, and the chopper had brought in a team of crime scene investigators. One of the men ran towards Durand.

  When he was closer, Durand saw that he was holding up a clear plastic baggie with the brass tie ring Durand had found earlier. He had given it to the crime scene people when they arrived and pointed them toward the pit.

  “Sir, you say you found this in the pit?”

  “Yes, why?”

  “It might be nothing, but the Nabokov girl, the kidnap victim, she was wearing her Girl Scout uniform when she was abducted.”

  “Not blond enough and looks older than fourteen,” Durand said, as he repeated what one of his attackers had said earlier.

  “What was that?” the cop said.

  “Your kidnap victim, is she blond and fourteen?”

  “Yes.”

  “The men I shot. They had come here to get her and they almost mistook Brenda for her.”

  The cop holding the tie clasp smiled.

  “I think we just got a break.”

  Valentina kicked Dan Matthews’ corpse in the face and watched it fall over.

  She was frustrated because she was being delayed in her pursuit of Pavel’s killer.

  They’d had been following the trail left behind by Tanner, Sara, and Polina when they came to the tree.

  It was a massive cedar. The tree’s root ball had come loose from the ground after being unable to bear the weight of the ice and snow coating it.

  The fallen tree was too high to get over and the hills on either side were too steep for the snowmobiles. Bogdan had tried and damaged a ski on his machine. He could fix it, but it took time. Once that was done, they would still need to backtrack to get around the tree.

  Ruslan walked over. He liked Valentina and thought she was beautiful, but never dared to ask her out.

  The Revolution was everything to the woman, and although Ruslan believed in the cause, he found her fanaticism intimidating.

  “Who do you think this man was?” Ruslan asked.

  “One of the bastards who took the girl. The others must have kicked him out of the shelter, or else he became lost.”

  “Bogdan is almost finished with his repair, then we can be on our way.”

  Valentina turned to look at Ruslan.

  “We will kill these people when we find them.”

  Ruslan blinked fast several times.

  “Da. I am armed, and I’m ready to do what you need me to do.”

  “Good,” Valentina said, and the briefest of smiles appeared on her lips.

  Ruslan looked at her as she went to speak with Bogdan.

  He would kill. If it made Valentina happy, he would kill hundreds. He followed behind her, watching the sway of her hips, while daydreaming about nights that would never come.

  Sara had left the rifle back at the sled, but Tanner had a handgun. The wolf had yet to notice them, as he was focused on Polina.

  The wolf was a big one, with a weight approaching a hundred pounds.

  Polina appeared calm and Tanner was impressed with her once more. As he brought the gun up to take aim, he saw Polina reach for something in her pocket.

  “Oh no, Tanner. She’s reaching for her knife,” Sara said.

  But, it wasn’t a knife. It was half a stick of the beef jerky Tanner had given her. Polina took the food from its wrapper, held it up, then, she tossed the beef jerky at the wolf.

  The animal followed its path and watched it fall in front of him, to sink down in the snow. After sniffing the air, the wolf stepped forward and plucked the food from the frost. He chewed, swallowed, then stared back at Polina.

  She showed the wolf her empty hands and spoke to it in Russian.

  “I have no more. I am sorry.”

  The wolf stared at her for several seconds. When it lifted its leg to move, Tanner almost fired, but the wolf turned and ran off into the trees a dozen yards away.

  “Polina,” Tanner called.

  She ran to them with joy lighting her face.

  “Did you two see the wolf?”

  “Yes, and that beast is dangerous,” Sara said.

  Polina shook her head.

  “Only to the bad people.”

  Tanner helped Sara down the hill and onto the sled. It took a while, but they reached the railroad tracks. The railway plow had done a fine job. It had scattered the snow from off the tracks and several feet to each side of them. Sara gave up the makeshift sled and began walking.

  “Are you sure your knee feels good enough?” Tanner asked.

  “If we go slow and I use the cane, but how’s your arm?”

  “It feels like it’s on fire, but I’ll be fine.”

  They rounded a curve in the tracks and saw a metal tower far off in the distance.

  “A cell tower!” Sara said with a smile.

  “Let’s see,” Tanner said. He took out his phone and saw two bars appear. “We have service again.”

  “Look!” Polina said, and she pointed the way they had come, where three snowmobiles were following in the tracks made by the sled. Tanner put the phone away as the snowmobiles’ whining engines came into hearing range.

  The three snowmobiles left their sight as they joined up with the railroad tracks, but within moments, they were coming around the curve, then cut their engines.

  Tanner eyed the three riders with suspicion, as did Sara, but when the one in the middle removed her goggles and helmet. Polina lit up in a smile and ran to her.

  “Miss Krasotkin! It’s Miss Krasotkin, she’s one of my teachers.”

  The woman got off the snowmobile and greeted Polina with a hug.

  “Polina! What are you doing here?”

  As the woman spoke, the men got off their machines.

  “Miss Krasotkin, these are my friends, Sara and Tanner. They are Americans and they saved me.”

  “Saved you from what, dear?”

  “I was kidnapped by a man when I left school Friday.”

  Valentina Krasotkin pretended to look astonished as she stood.

  “Kidnapped?”

  “Polina was kidnapped two days ago. You hadn’t heard?” Tanner said.

  “Why no, I was at home with a cold. Oh, my goodness, thank God you found her.”

  Tanner quickly explained in English what Valentina had said in Russian. He saw that Sara understood the significance.

  While there might be differences in the way Russian and American authorities handled a high-level kidnapping, the Russian authorities certainly would have tracked down and talked to anyone Polina knew.

  Valentina’s professed ignorance was a lie.

  One man went to Tanner’s left, that was Bogdan, who had seen Tanner’s injured arm hanging in the sling and sought to take advantage of the ailment. Meanwhile, Ruslan was on Tanner’s right.

  Ruslan had a hand hidden behind his leg, and the hand was holding something. Tanner was wondering if Sara was aware of the threat when she whispered to him.

  “I have the one on the left,” Sara said.

  Tanner’s gun was out in a flash and firing at Ruslan.

  Ruslan’s front teeth sh
attered as Tanner’s bullet passed through them on its way out the rear of the man’s skull. Before Ruslan’s body had even hit the ground, Tanner had spun and shot Bogdan, who had already suffered a fatal head wound delivered by Sara.

  Polina screamed in shock, then was yanked in front of Valentina, who attempted to use the girl as a shield. She pointed her gun at Polina.

  “I’ll kill her if you don’t drop those weapons.”

  Tanner and Sara ignored her.

  How would giving up their only means of defense help Polina in the slightest?

  Tanner was taking careful aim at a spot on Valentina’s forehead when Polina surprised all of them.

  With a shout, she grabbed Valentina’s sleeve, shifted her hips, and flipped the woman sideways.

  Valentina fell hard atop the metal tracks and cried out in pain. She then sat up, but before she could raise her weapon, Sara smashed her cane against the crown of Valentina’s head. The cane broke, and Valentina fell back over.

  Polina ran to Tanner and he put his good arm around her shoulders.

  “Who taught you how to do a hip flip, was it your chauffeur, Stas?”

  Polina opened her jacket, pulled up the layers beneath, and pointed at one of the patches on her uniform blouse.

  “Self-defense classes, I learned at the Girl Scouts.”

  As Polina helped Tanner bind Valentina’s wrists and ankles together, the woman stirred awake. When she saw that she was captured, Valentina cried, then begged Tanner to kill her.

  “You must kill me,” she told Tanner.

  “Why?”

  “I am not a criminal. I am a revolutionary, a soldier, I should not be taken alive.”

  “I don’t care about your politics,” Tanner said. “I only care that you and your people hurt Polina.”

  Valentina gazed at Tanner with a look of hatred.

  “Did you kill Pavel?”

  “I did, but I won’t kill you. I’ll let the authorities have you. Once they make you talk, your people won’t be kidnapping any more girls.”

  “Pavel was my brother. I’ll see you dead one day.”

  Tanner considered Valentina. Perhaps it would be best to kill her. But no, if she were part of a conspiracy, there were people in the Russian government that would make her talk. That information could prove invaluable.

  Sara’s phone rang.

  She laughed with delight as she dug it out and answered it with a smile in her voice.

  “Hello, Jacques.”

  “Sara! Thank God, are you safe?”

  “I am and so is Tanner.”

  “Nothing can kill that man. It’s you I was worried about.”

  “Thank you, and I have hurt my knee, but Tanner needs a doctor too, for a dislocated elbow.”

  “Where are you two? I’ll come with help.”

  “You’re near?”

  “I’ve been searching for you.”

  “Thank you, that means a lot to me, but listen, Jacques. We have a girl with us.”

  “Polina Nabokov.”

  “How did you know?”

  “That’s a long story.”

  “You can tell it to me when you see me,” Sara said.

  She ended the call after talking to a policeman who said he knew the area and that help was on the way.

  When her phone rang a minute later, the call was for Polina.

  Sara handed her the phone and watched the girl fill with happiness at the sound of her mother’s voice.

  Sara reached over and took Tanner’s hand.

  “I’d crash all over again if it meant saving Polina.”

  Tanner said nothing, but there was a smile on his face.

  27

  Hero?

  After rescue teams arrived with the police and federal agents, Durand, with the assistance of Polina’s grandmother, covered up Tanner and Sara’s involvement in saving Polina from Pavel, and the others.

  Valentina refused to talk, but the Russian authorities were confident that they could uncover any of the other members of their organization by a detailed examination into the lives of its deceased conspirators, such as Bogdan and Ruslan. And although it wasn’t stated, Valentina would likely be tortured to reveal what she knew. Regardless of the level of interrogation she was subjected to, Valentina’s remaining days would be spent behind bars.

  When it came to Tanner and Sara’s involvement, Polina promised she would keep it a secret.

  Durand’s guide, Sasha, received the reward for finding Polina.

  After saying goodbye to Sara at the airport, Polina asked to speak to Tanner in private. They talked in a quiet corner of the airport terminal, where Polina used a black marker to draw something on the white fabric of the splint Tanner had to wear on his left forearm. The splint resembled a cast, but it was soft and could be flexed. Tanner would be wearing it for at least two weeks while he recovered from the injury he received in his fight with Pavel.

  While watching from the other side of the large room, Sara saw Polina give Tanner a quick kiss on the lips, before wiping away tears as they said goodbye.

  Sara, wore a knee brace that complemented Tanner’s splint as they headed for the United States.

  As their jet left Paris after a brief layover for refueling, Sara asked a question.

  “What did Polina say before she kissed you?”

  Tanner wore a smile.

  “She said I was her hero.”

  “Speaking of young girls, whatever happened between you and the girl you met at twelve? You left me in suspense there. But even at twelve, I’m sure you found a way to win.”

  “Actually, I had help.”

  Cody was pinned to the floor and struggling to get free, as the man who had abducted Genevieve raised the 2x4 to bash his skull in.

  A shot rang out. The bullet whizzed over the man’s left shoulder, just missing him.

  Both the man and Cody turned their heads to see Cody’s grandfather holding a gun.

  The man dropped the 2x4 and put his hands in the air.

  Walter Parker stepped closer, took aim, and shot the man in the heart. Genevieve’s abductor crumpled backwards, to lie dead atop the floor, while Cody got to his feet.

  “Are you all right, boy? I saw you two fighting, but I had trouble getting a clean shot.”

  “I’m good, Granddad. Where’s Genevieve?”

  “In my truck with her mother. We saw you running through the parking lot without a coat on and couldn’t figure out what you were doing. When I went out looking for you, we found Genevieve.”

  The wound on Cody’s hand was bandaged inside an ambulance, while he also had multiple bruises from his tumble down the hill. A blanket was draped over his shoulders, but he was still cold from the damp clothes he was wearing.

  When cops questioned him about the shots his grandfather had fired, Cody said that the heart shot came first, and that the second shot missed high. He said nothing about the dead man having raised his hands in surrender.

  When his grandfather asked him why he lied, Cody answered with a question.

  “Would the man have done it again, you know, grab a girl like Genevieve?”

  “Yes,” his grandfather said, “and that’s why I killed him.”

  “And that’s why I lied,” Cody said.

  His grandfather took him by the shoulders and stared at him with pride.

  “You nearly fought that bastard to a standstill, at only twelve. You’ll make a hell of a man someday, boy. Yes sir, one hell of a man.”

  Sara leaned over and kissed Tanner.

  “Polina was right, you are a hero… in a way.”

  “I’m a hit man, not a hero,” Tanner said, and then he drifted off into thoughts about the past again.

  Genevieve had come to the door and asked to talk to Cody before she left the lodge with her mother. His grandfather said that they could talk while he went down to the lobby to buy pipe tobacco. Cody realized the old man was giving them time alone, and he loved him for it.

  Whi
le his grandfather was gone, Genevieve gave Cody her phone number, along with an embrace and a long kiss on the lips.

  “You’re my hero, Cody Parker, and I’ll never forget you.”

  Tanner didn’t know if, wherever she was, Genevieve still remembered him or not, but he knew he’d never forget her kiss, it had been his first.

  Tanner looked at his left palm, where a wound from an ancient battle left a faded white scar he would always carry.

  Above that hand, there was a heart drawn on his splint. Polina had written her name along with the words, “I love you.” in the Cyrillic script used in Russia.

  “That girl, Genevieve, did you two stay in touch?” Sara asked.

  “After two phone calls, I realized we had nothing to say to each other and that she was just being nice. I never called again.”

  Sara pointed at the heart Polina drew.

  “Genevieve gave you her phone number, and years later, you’re still winning young girls’ hearts.”

  Tanner stared into Sara’s eyes.

  “And what about big girls?”

  Sara kissed him.

  “Oh yeah, you’ve got my heart.”

  Before they could say more, Sara was overcome by a yawn. She stretched, then reclined her seat.

  “I need sleep, but wake me before we land.”

  “Will do,” Tanner said.

  They were headed for New York City, and it would be so good to be back home.

  Also by Remington Kane

  COMING SOON!

  TANNER 18

  MANHATTAN HIT MAN

  A TANNER NOVEL

  The TANNER Series in order

  INEVITABLE I - A Tanner Novel - Book 1

  KILL IN PLAIN SIGHT - A Tanner Novel - Book 2

  MAKING A KILLING ON WALL STREET - A Tanner Novel - Book 3

  THE FIRST ONE TO DIE LOSES - A Tanner Novel - Book 4

  THE LIFE & DEATH OF CODY PARKER - A Tanner Novel - Book 5

  WAR - A Tanner Novel - A Tanner Novel - Book 6