“Even if you get Kelly back,” he said, “there’s no guarantee Boris won’t take her again.”
“That’s where you come in. Right?”
He nodded.
“Right. I’ll handle it.”
“Hostage exchanges. They usually go something like this: The two parties face each other across an open area with a clear view. Gunmen present. Snipers hidden. The two hostages start walking toward each other. They pass in the middle and continue walking until they get to their waiting parties.”
“Hostage exchanges usually end up with one side screwing the other. Breaking promises. Setting up traps. Killing hostages.”
“So we’ve got to figure out a way to prevent that from happening. Got any ideas?”
“Not yet. You?”
“Not yet.”
CHAPTER 64
IN THE MIDDLE of the night I woke up with an idea.
I got out of bed and fumbled my phone from the bedside table.
A snoring Sam and a silent Inna paid me no attention when I crept past with the stealth of a panther.
In the bathroom I turned on the light and looked up the phone number of an old friend.
Sophia Quinn.
A master scuba diver.
She lives in California. Carmel. The city where Clint Eastwood used to be mayor.
I checked the time on my phone.
One a.m.
That would make it ten p.m. in California.
Sophia would still be awake.
I punched in her number.
“Hello?”
“Sophia? It’s Rip.”
“Well hello.”
“Hope I didn’t wake you.”
“Nobody wakes me when I sleep. I shut off my phone at bedtime. Anybody who wants to talk to me can wait until morning.”
“Good to know.”
“Are you in California? Would you like to meet for lunch?”
“Actually I’m in New York.”
“New York? Isn’t it cold there now?”
“My toes are Popsicles.”
“I thought you liked to avoid cold places.”
“I do. When I can. Right now I can’t.”
“Why not?”
I told her. About Kelly. Inna. Boris. Sam. The whole story.
Sophia listened silently until I had finished.
Then she cleared her throat.
“That is quite a story.”
“I know.”
“I assume you told it to me for some reason?”
“I need your help.”
“How can I help you?”
I told her my plan. How it involved her. What I needed her to do.
“All expenses paid,” I said when I had finished. “Plus I’ll pay you a generous fee.”
“I will do it. Under two conditions.”
“Anything.”
“One, I pay my own expenses. Two, I work for free.”
“Can’t let you do that.”
“Those are my conditions.”
“I’d feel bad about not paying you.”
“And I would feel bad about charging you for a favor I have owed you for years. Now I finally get a chance to repay you for what you did. Will you let me do that? Or do you want me to feel bad?”
“Well when you put it that way.”
CHAPTER 65
THE FOLLOWING AFTERNOON I drove to the Greater Rochester International Airport and picked up Sophia.
“What’s new in the world of scuba diving?” I said in the car.
“My company is now offering diving expeditions,” Sophia said. “Many people are signing up for them. Business is good.”
“Expeditions? Where do you go?”
“We take voyages to remote destinations. Exotic locations. Top diving sites. Solomon Islands. Marquesas Islands. Cayman Islands.”
“How about Gilligan’s Island?”
“We will have to add that location to our itinerary.”
“You should. It’s only a three-hour tour.”
“Only three hours? Then why did Gilligan and the other castaways pack overnight luggage?”
“I’ve often wondered that myself.”
When we got to the hotel room I introduced Sophia to Sam.
“How do you know Rip?” he said to her.
“He saved my life a few years ago.”
“What happened?”
“My ex-husband started stalking me after our divorce. I went off the grid and made it three years without hearing from him. But when I got dozens of emails from him one morning I knew he had finally found me.
“At work that day I discovered he had emailed a naked photo of me to all my coworkers. The photo had been taken when I was just eighteen. Eighteen and stupid.
“Anyway that night Bernie broke into my house. He said he still loved me. He begged me to come back to him. When I refused he raped me and beat me. Then he broke my arm and told me he hated me.
“I hit him in the head with a frying pan and managed to get away. I ran naked down the street and used a neighbor’s phone to contact the police. By the time they got to my house Bernie was gone.
“He went into hiding. When the U.S. Marshals Service started looking for him Rip came to my house. He asked me questions about Bernie. During the questioning Rip smelled something funny. He searched the house and found Bernie hiding in the attic.
“Bernie had stored food and water up there. He had been peeing in empty bottles and sleeping on a futon. Apparently he had been in my attic for days.
“He would have killed me one night while I was sleeping. He was just waiting for the right time. Thankfully Rip prevented that from happening.”
Sam nodded thoughtfully.
“Ready to start?” I said.
“Ready,” Sam said.
“Ready,” Sophia said.
We locked Inna in the bathroom.
Then we started working out the details of the plan.
“Here’s what we need,” I said. “A yacht. A rowboat. An underwater scooter.”
“I will take care of that today,” Sophia said. “There must be a place around here that rents boats and diving equipment. How long do we need to rent them for?”
“Two days.”
“How about a sniper?” Sam said. “We need one. Right?”
I shook my head.
“Not necessary.”
“Boris will have one. Maybe more than one.”
“Won’t do him any good.”
“What else do we need?” Sophia said.
“A makeup artist,” I said. “Somebody who’s good with prosthetic makeup.”
“I will visit one today,” Sophia said.
“Meanwhile I’ll pick up the supplies I need,” Sam said.
“And I’ll phone Boris,” I said.
CHAPTER 66
SOPHIA USED HER phone to snap photos of Inna.
When she had finished she exited the bathroom.
“You can gag her again,” Sophia told me. “I have all the photos I need.”
In the bathroom I crouched down in front of Inna.
“You’re just a victim of your father’s depravity. Nobody could blame you for your behavior. I hold no ill will toward you.”
Apparently the feeling wasn’t mutual.
She spat in my face.
“My father will kill you. You will all die. And I will be there to watch. That day is coming.”
“I’ll be sure to put it on my calendar.”
I winked at her. Then patted her thigh.
She hissed a string of expletives before the gag muffled her words.
Outside in the parking lot I waved good-bye to Sam and Sophia. He gave me a thumbs-up and she waved her fingers. Then they drove off to do their errands.
Back in the room I took out my phone and punched in Boris’s number.
“Yes?”
“Hello Bore.”
“Mr. Lane?”
“Good guess.”
“My guards told me somebody atta
cked them. That was you?”
“Guilty as charged.”
“You took Inna.”
“I’ve got something you want.”
“Bastard.”
“You know me well.”
“Kelly will die.”
“Inna will die.”
“You would not do that.”
“I would.”
“What do you want?”
“Kelly for Inna.”
“Let me speak to my daughter.”
“She’s a little tied up at the moment.”
“I need proof of life before I continue this conversation.”
“Fair enough.”
In the bathroom I put my phone on speaker and set it on the sink counter. I crouched down in front of Inna and pulled down her gag.
“Your father’s on the phone. Go ahead and blurt out your defiant comments.”
She did.
Until the gag censored her.
“Happy now, Bore?” I said into the phone.
“Happy? No. I will be happy when you die.”
“Let me speak to Kelly. I need proof of life before I continue this conversation.”
A minute later she came on the line.
“Rip?”
“You okay, Kelly?”
“Yes. How’s Dad?”
“He’s looking forward to seeing you.”
A shuffling sound.
Then Boris came back on the line.
“Happy now, Mr. Lane?”
“Let me tell you how this is going to work. . . .”
“You will tell me? No. I will tell you.”
“You’ve got more to lose. That puts me in control.”
“More to lose?”
“Inna’s your daughter. Kelly’s just my friend.”
“I see.”
“So let me tell you how this is going to work. Pay attention. You might want to take notes.”
“No need for sarcasm.”
“We’ll meet on Lake Ontario tomorrow at ten p.m.”
“Where exactly?”
I gave him the GPS coordinates.
“You got a rowboat on that fancy yacht of yours?”
“Yes,” he said. “Why?”
“Tomorrow night I want you to anchor your yacht half a mile from mine. Put Kelly in the rowboat and let her start rowing toward me. Meanwhile I’ll put Inna in a rowboat and let her start rowing toward you.”
“How do I know you will keep your word?”
“Would you like it in writing?”
A rhetorical question.
We both knew the answer.
“Understand the plan, Bore?”
“Yes.”
“Guess I’ll see you tomorrow night then.”
“You can count on that.”
CHAPTER 67
SAM AND SOPHIA returned to the hotel room an hour before dinnertime.
“Get everything?” I said.
“Everything except for the prosthetic mask,” Sophia said. “It should be ready by noon tomorrow. We can pick it up then.”
“You think the makeup artist can make the mask look like Inna?”
“She is very talented. I gave her the photos of Inna. I think she can make the mask look like Inna.”
“Then we’re in business. Where’s our yacht moored?”
“At the Rochester Yacht Club.”
“Why don’t you two bring Inna out to the car while I check out of the hotel.”
Minutes later the four of us pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward the Rochester Yacht Club.
Five miles down the road Sam spoke up.
“Let’s stop at Wegmans. We need groceries.”
We stopped and picked up some groceries.
When we got to the yacht we unloaded the car. Groceries. Suitcases. Sam’s box of supplies.
Sam cooked dinner on the yacht. Grilled salmon. Coconut rice. Mango slices.
“Here’s your dinner,” I told Inna in her cabin.
“My father will kill you.”
“Yeah yeah.”
I locked her in.
“You two ready to eat?” I said to Sam and Sophia.
We ate on the deck. We sat there and talked for a long time. Discussing the plan. Working out details.
I nodded to Sam.
“Great dinner.”
“Glad you liked it.”
“Bring on dessert.”
Peach sorbet. Yum.
After dinner Sam took his box of supplies to a table and started working on his project.
Meanwhile Sophia and I went to Inna’s cabin.
Inna glared at us.
I picked up her empty plate.
“You ate everything. How was it?”
“Not bad. For prison food.”
“Sounds like a five-star review to me.”
“What do you want?”
“Strip.”
“What?”
“Take off your clothes.”
“Go to hell.”
“You can do it the easy way or the hard way. Your choice. What’s it going to be?”
A pause.
Then she stripped.
Sophia stripped too.
Under different circumstances I would have been counting my lucky stars.
Sophia exchanged clothes with Inna.
“Her clothes fit me,” Sophia said.
CHAPTER 68
THE FOLLOWING EVENING we sailed to the meeting location.
We got there about nine p.m.
The meeting would take place at ten p.m.
Sophia and I stood on deck.
Moonless sky. Glittering stars. Cold breeze.
Sophia resembled Inna. Her clothes. Her face.
“Your disguise will definitely fool Boris,” I told Sophia. “No doubt about that. The prosthetic mask turned out better than I expected.”
Inna remained locked in her cabin. Bound and blindfolded. That would prevent her from seeing out the cabin windows.
A devastating event would soon take place outside. No need for Inna to see it. The memory of it would haunt her forever.
Sam joined us on deck.
“Everything’s all set,” he said. “The equipment’s in place. The rowboat’s ready. All we can do now is wait.”
So we waited.
Until nine forty-three p.m.
“I see something coming,” I said and lowered my binoculars. “You see that light over there?”
Sam nodded. Then lowered his binoculars.
“Showtime.”
“Try not to enjoy it too much, Sam.”
“Too late for that.”
Minutes later Boris’s yacht stopped half a mile from our yacht.
“So far so good,” I said. “He’s following my instructions.”
A powerful searchlight blazed from Boris’s yacht. It swept the water. Probing left. Probing right.
Sam turned to Sophia. He looked her up and down.
“You look so much like Inna I almost want to tie you up.”
“You might want to ask me out to dinner first.”
The three of us burst out laughing.
The laughter retreated when a splash sounded in the distance.
With binoculars I could see Kelly. She sat in a rowboat in front of Boris’s yacht. The searchlight shone on her.
She sat motionless. No doubt waiting for Boris’s signal.
He would be waiting for us to respond in kind. Waiting to see Inna in a rowboat. Then he would signal Kelly to start rowing toward our yacht.
“Think he’s got a sniper aboard?” Sam said.
“Be my guess,” I said.
“Boris probably thinks he’s got the upper hand.”
“Imagine his surprise when he gets the middle finger.”
“This is too good to be true. My smile muscles hurt.”
I turned to Sophia.
“You be careful out there.”
“This will be a cakewalk.”
“Let’s hope so.”
We bumped fists.
She got into the rowboat.
It floated peacefully on the gentle swells until she started rowing.
When she got out in front of our yacht she stopped rowing.
I turned on the searchlight and shone it on her.
She sat motionless. Waiting for my signal.
Seconds passed.
Water lapped against the boats.
“Anytime you’re ready,” I said.
Sophia started rowing toward Boris’s yacht.
Moments later Kelly started rowing toward our yacht.
Boris’s searchlight followed her.
The two women would meet each other somewhere in the middle. Then it would happen. Until then Sam and I watched through binoculars.
He spoke out of the side of his mouth.
“Half a mile between the two yachts. That’s a quarter of a mile for each of them to row. How long should that take?”
“Most rowboats can be rowed at four miles per hour. So it should take them about four minutes to row a quarter of a mile.”
Kelly and Sophia continued rowing.
Sam and I continued watching.
Boris and his crew continued doing whatever they were doing.
Minutes passed.
The two rowboats got closer and closer to each other.
Soon it would happen.
Soon.
CHAPTER 69
SOPHIA STOPPED ROWING.
She let her rowboat start drifting toward Kelly’s rowboat.
Moments later only a dozen feet separated the two women.
Sophia twisted around until she faced the oncoming boat. She spoke to Kelly. But not loud enough for anybody else to hear.
Kelly stopped rowing.
The boats drifted alongside each other.
The women exchanged words.
“Let’s hope Kelly follows Sophia’s instructions,” Sam said to me. “Otherwise we’ve got a real problem.”
“It’s out of our hands now.”
We continued watching.
Kelly cursed loudly. She sprang from the boat. Her body slammed into Sophia.
Together they plunged into the freezing water.
Seconds passed.
The ripple disappeared.
Nobody surfaced.
CHAPTER 70
TWO EMPTY ROWBOATS.
New York Strip Page 18
