The Vanishing Angle

by Linda Ladd

  “Which family is she with?”

  “I don’t know. That’s what I’m trying to find out.”

  “So you’re saying Blackwood abducted your girl the same way he took Irina years ago?”

  Sokolov nodded. Tears were welling up now, rolling down his cheeks. His grief looked legit. He found himself wanting to believe Sokolov’s new story, although he knew he probably shouldn’t, not with Sokolov’s track record. “My baby girl was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s that simple. They had opportunity, and they grabbed her. They had no idea she was mine. It wouldn’t have mattered if they had. Katerina was out on a walk with my wife. They were sitting on a park bench. Blackwood saw her and thought she was a beautiful child. He wanted her, so he took her. That’s what Irina said happened. Nobody was there to stop them. My wife didn’t know who they were.” He looked down. “Irina cried when she told me. She said they pulled up, and Blackwood told her to get out and bring Katerina back to the car. He gave her candy to give to her. My wife refused and started to walk away, but Irina dragged my girl back to the limo. When my wife tried to stop them, Petrov hit her so hard that he put her in a coma. It took months for her to come out of it, and then she couldn’t remember much for a long time. When she finally told me that the limo had diplomatic flags on the front, I found out Senator Blackwood had been in Moscow and had flown home the same day my daughter was taken. I learned through my friend that Petrov was working with him, and there was a witness to the abduction. She lived in a house across the street and identified Blackwood. She told me about Irina, too, but I had no idea who she was until I started watching the farm.”

  “So how do I fit in?”

  “I didn’t see you until I followed Irina and her bodyguards to that steakhouse. I had no idea who you were or why they took you. I thought they might lead me to Katerina that night, but they picked up you instead.”

  “How did you know Petrov?”

  “We worked together in Syria, like I said. He was a coordinator with the Assad regime. I wasn’t there long and didn’t really work with him. I was sent to gather intelligence. I found out later that he started working for Blackwood. I came here, reminded him of our past association, and asked for a job. I thought that would help me locate my daughter. I didn’t know anything about their drug smuggling at that point. I had no idea he had developed a pipeline using families. Petrov based it on our old sleeper cells.”

  Despite his misgivings, Novak believed him. “These people who go out on the boats, they’re the actual drug mules, is that it? They move the product to the next rung on the ladder. Do you know their names or where they’re based?”

  “Some of them, I do, but only the few that I’ve met with personally. Most of them are addicts. The children are used for cover. I think some of them are trafficked in from South America. God, it all makes me sick. As far as I can tell, none of them are actual families. The kids are their captives. They’re victims, too, all of them.”

  “How did Petrov hook up with Blackwood?”

  “I suspect Petrov approached him, hoping to survive the trouble he’s in at home. He murdered a few too many people down in Syria. Some of them were his own Russian operatives, and he covered it up. When they found out, he fled for his life. Russia’s got a price on his head. That’s why he’s hiding here and using Blackwood as insurance. He trusts me and thinks we’re still friends like in the old days, but I want him brought down. When my government finds him, they’ll kill him.”

  “He doesn’t know Katerina is your daughter?”

  “We worked together before I even got married. He doesn’t know about her, and I don’t want him to. He was the one who hurt my wife. I want him dead, but I have to find Katerina first. I think they’ll kill her if they find out she’s mine. They’ll kill me for sure if they find out I’m working against them. She might already be dead. That’s my biggest fear. They murder those who cause them trouble or don’t cooperate.”

  Seeing him shake in frustration, Novak believed his story. Nobody could fake the pain flickering on Sokolov’s face. “What exactly do you do for Petrov?”

  “Whatever he tells me to. He’s been worried about you from the beginning. He thinks you’ve got connections that can bring him down. You weren’t supposed to come out of this alive, and neither was your girlfriend. I guess you know that.”

  “Yeah, I noticed. So my involvement was random? That’s what you’re telling me?”

  “Yes, Irina chose you to take the heat off Justin. She told me that you were big and looked tough, and she thought you could hold your own with those guys. She was thinking of herself and her boyfriend, and that’s all. She didn’t know you, and she didn’t care what happened to you until she saw you slug her Daddy after he hit her. That’s when she decided you could help her escape that house.”

  “Yet they had me at the horse farm and didn’t kill me.”

  “Petrov wanted to, right then and there. Blackwood wouldn’t let him. They wanted you dead because you’d seen and heard too much. They planned to hang you in the jail and call it suicide. The Senator said it would be easier to explain away. That was going to happen until Lori showed up so quick, waving around Pentagon credentials and threatening a federal investigation. Blackwood couldn’t risk that, so they had to let you go. You were supposed to die in that car crash along with the boy. You and Lori both. That was the cleanup.”

  “Did Petrov order you to befriend us when we were taken to the hospital after the wreck?”

  “No, that’s when I decided to intervene and help you. They seemed almost afraid of you, which is not customary in a man like Petrov. Your woman presented a threat that they could not allow to happen. All these things were to my advantage if I joined up with you against them. They would have killed me eventually, anyway, once they realized I knew they had taken my daughter.”

  “That’s why you got us out of the hospital that night?”

  “Everything I told you that night was the truth. They were coming there to kill you before dawn. You’d both be dead now if not for me.”

  Novak kept watching those big expressive black eyes. They remained steady on his face, without a hint of deceit.

  Sokolov was not finished. “You both would’ve suffered heart failures during the night. They have drugs to inject into IV feeds. These people are good at what they do, and they would have pulled it off. Petrov and Blackwood both wanted you dead by then. You were trouble they didn’t need. They couldn’t let you go. You knew too much.”

  “Give me Irina’s number. I want to talk to her.”

  Sokolov recited it from memory, and Novak punched in the numbers. A woman answered. She sounded like Irina. “Stepan? When are you coming back for me? I hate it here. I’m scared Daddy’s going to find me.”

  “Sokolov’s not coming back for you, Irina,” Novak told her.

  There was momentary silence on the other end. Then her voice came back, one that revealed the girl’s nerves were shot. “Mr. Novak. It’s you, isn’t it? Did you kill Stepan? Oh, no, you shouldn’t have killed him! He’s helping me get away from Daddy. He’s the one who helped you, too, back at that hospital.”

  “I didn’t kill anybody. Not yet, anyway. He’s sitting right here in front of me. I bloodied him up some and got the answers I wanted. Tell me exactly what happened after we left you at the hospital.”

  In essence, she reiterated the same story that Sokolov had told him, but in different words. He didn’t think they’d rehearsed the story. Her telling was interrupted several times by her usual sobbing theatrics, and none of them touched Novak’s emotions this time. The girl had a lot to answer for.

  “Where are you?” Novak asked bluntly, cutting off her phony weeping. It didn’t take her long to calm down enough to talk, seeing how it had all been a show. He decided she should be an actress, if she managed to stay alive that long.

  “I’m in a
convent. Way up here in Quebec City. They can’t get to me here. The priest said so. Daddy can’t get to me here, can he, Mr. Novak? Stepan said he couldn’t.”

  Novak was pretty sure Blackwood and Petrov could get to anybody, anywhere. Irina being in Canada wouldn’t deter them. “If Sokolov told them you were dead, they’ll stop looking.” He looked at Sokolov to verify that conjecture. The Russian nodded. After hearing his story, Novak had figured out that much. “Yeah, he told them you were dead. You should be safe enough up there.”

  “Please don’t hurt him. He’s just trying to find his daughter. I helped Daddy get her, but I don’t remember much about it. I was so screwed up when it happened, I swear to God I was. I do bad things when I need a fix, really bad things that I don’t even know I’m doing. I do anything Daddy wants when I’m strung out.”

  Novak’s stomach turned. The whole thing was sickening. The girl had lived in a hell she hadn’t asked for and didn’t deserve. She might be a little jerk at times, but she had been horribly used and abused for most of her life.

  “I don’t trust Sokolov, but I’m not going to hurt him unless he tries something stupid. I need him at the moment.”

  Sokolov appeared more than relieved to hear it. He shut his eyes and sagged back against the chair.

  “Ask him when he’s coming back to get me. These people are real nice and stuff, and they got a doctor here who comes and tries to help me clean up, but it’s so cold up here and there’s nothing to do. No TV, no Netflix, no nothing. Just books.”

  “Stay there and don’t talk to anybody about anything. You understand me, Irina? Don’t talk to your daddy on the phone, or Petrov, if they come to get you. Don’t call them for drugs, you understand me? You do that, and you’ll end up dead.”

  “Yes, sir, I won’t, I promise. Stepan told me that, too. I’ll stay here and try to get better. I won’t talk to them, no matter how bad I’m messed up. But I hate it here, there’s nothing to do. It’s so boring.”

  “Just do what you’re told. If they find you, they’ll kill you.”

  “Okay, okay, I will. And Mr. Novak…I want you to know I really am sorry I picked you out for those guys at the restaurant. I shouldn’t have done it. But I’m so scared of Mr. Petrov. I knew better, but I needed to shoot up so bad that night. I was so sick.”

  “Yeah, I’m sorry you did, too.”

  Novak hung up. He wasn’t sure he believed her. She’d have said anything if it got her what she wanted. She’d already proved it. Junkies never told the truth, anyway. “Okay, Sokolov, I believe some of your story, though I probably shouldn’t. I’m taking you with me. We’re going to walk out of this house and down the street to my car. Don’t try anything or I’ll shoot you. Believe it.”

  Now Sokolov was eager to please. “I do believe you. I won’t, I swear to God, I won’t. I want to go with you. Petrov’s going to find out who I am, sooner or later. I’m already a dead man if they find out I’m double-crossing them.”

  “Just do what I say and keep your mouth shut.”

  Novak took his time taping Sokolov’s hands behind him and slapping duct tape over his mouth. It looked like he could breathe through his nose well enough now. It was all a safety precaution. He walked him out the back door, down the sheltered side of the house and across the street, then down the sidewalk to the Civic. Nobody appeared to notice. Everybody was inside, probably watching late-night television or sound asleep. Novak saw no one peeking out their windows, no one calling the cops with their cellphones. He opened the trunk.

  Sokolov started protesting under the tape, but Novak wasn’t going to risk him yelling or trying to escape. He pushed him in the back, and Sokolov fell in forward, writhing around. Novak tossed his legs inside and slammed the trunk shut.

  “I told you I didn’t trust you,” he muttered.

  Looking around, he saw no signs of alarm. He got into the driver’s seat, started the engine, and headed to the deserted beach where he’d left the Zodiac pulled up high on the sand.

  Chapter 19

  “So now we’re kidnapping this guy?”

  Lori’s voice was so incredulous that Novak felt like laughing, but couldn’t quite dredge it up. She stood at the stern rail and stared down at the Russian, where he was bound in the bottom of the rubber boat.

  “Relax, Lori. We’re just going to get some answers out of him. That’s all.”

  Novak secured the Zodiac at the stern, grabbed the Russian by the back of his shirt, and hauled him up on deck. Dragging him below, he dropped him without much ceremony on the floor in the main salon. Novak did not believe everything this guy told him, but his story about his real daughter rang true. There were lots more questions that he needed to ask.

  Lori followed him down the steps. “You’re going to cost me my cushy new job at the Pentagon,” she accused him. “I didn’t sign up for illegal abductions.”

  Novak turned to her. “This guy is a former Russian espionage agent who is currently inside the country illegally while working with drug smugglers. The Pentagon will probably give you a commendation for turning him in.”

  “Sorry, but I’m unlikely to believe anything he says.”

  Novak shrugged and pushed Sokolov down on the couch. He ripped the tape off Sokolov’s mouth. The man groaned with pain.

  “I’m telling you the truth, I swear to God.” His lips looked inflamed. He kept licking his sore mouth. “I’m on your side now. I’ve been so every step of the way. You’ve got to believe me.”

  “No, I don’t.” Lori sat down on the couch across from him, arms crossed over her chest. She didn’t look eager to hear his tale. “I trusted you less than Novak did from the moment I saw you. I was right then, and I’m right now. You’re a traitorous dirtbag.”

  Sokolov stared silently at her, then looked up at Novak. Under the circumstances, he appeared in control. His voice sounded normal, and his eyes were holding steady. “I saved both your lives at that hospital. You’d both be dead now, if not for me. I hope you’ll remember that.”

  “Keep telling yourself that.” Lori turned to Novak. “You shouldn’t have brought him aboard. He’s working with them, and they’ll come looking for him here. What are we going to do now? Turn him in to the authorities?”

  Novak pulled up a chair facing his prisoner. “I’m going to find out everything he knows and see if we can believe any of it. Depending on what he coughs up, I’ll decide whether or not to let him go or turn him over to Homeland Security. As I said, he’s here illegally. That’s a serious crime, and they’ll want to know what he’s been up to while here. If we turn him in, that will put you in the clear with your general.”

  Sokolov didn’t like any of that. “You can’t do that to me, Novak. Please, just listen and believe me. I can help you put Petrov away for good. I can tell you things that will help you bring him down—dates, places, people he works with. You can take it all to the Feds. Put him away forever. I hope you do. The world will be a better place when he’s locked up.”

  Novak looked at Lori. “Anything going on aboard Trident Point?”

  She shook her head. “They’re all in bed by now, I guess. It’s been dark and quiet since around midnight. Guards are still patrolling the decks and surrounding docks. They don’t seem to miss our friend here. Maybe he wasn’t supposed to come back tonight.”

  “Will they come after you?” Novak asked Sokolov. “Are you supposed to report back tonight?”

  “No, I’m supposed to take a flight out of here tonight.”

  “Where to?”

  “Nantucket Island.”

  Novak frowned. He hadn’t been expecting that. He’d been expecting him to say he was headed back to Virginia. “Why Nantucket?”

  “If I tell you everything I know, will you let me go find my little girl before they kill her?”

  “Maybe. Maybe not. If you don’t, I’m turning you
in. Then you’ll spend the rest of your life behind bars and never find her.”

  “You’ve got to believe me. She’s in terrible danger. All I want to do is find her and get her out of here.”

  Lori scoffed. “Looks to me like you’ve been playing both ends against the middle. Just like all spies do.”

  “I have at times, I admit that. I came here to find Katerina, and that’s the only way I could do it. I don’t care what happens to Petrov and Blackwood. Are you kidding? I hope they both land in prison or end up dead.”

  “What’s going on up at Nantucket? Who were you going to meet there?”

  Sokolov stared at Novak, then glanced around the cabin. That’s the moment he decided to lie. Novak could read it on his face. “If you lie to me now, Sokolov, I swear I’ll turn you over to the CIA tonight. That’s a promise.”

  Sokolov hesitated. Novak could also ascertain the moment he made the decision to cooperate. This guy was too damn readable to be a good agent. Maybe he got that way when he was bloodied up and bound. Novak began to wonder if Sokolov had manufactured his espionage background.

  “Okay, here’s the truth: Nantucket is the major distribution point for drugs flooding into New England. It’s where Petrov deposits the product and gets it ready to ship to the mainland. Nantucket’s a touristy place like those beaches are, but nice and quiet and quaint, off the beaten track. Nobody would ever suspect an illegal drug operation out there. Blackwood’s had his estate there since before he was a network anchor. It’s been a family place for a century, passed down from father to son. He’s the model citizen on that island, influential and respected, and he’s got a warehouse on his grounds, or somewhere out there. Who would suspect he’s using it as a depot for opioids? He’s been doing it for years now.”